Methods for operating semiconductor device and semiconductor memory device

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus on charges injection using piezo-ballistic-charges injection mechanism are provided for semiconductor device and nonvolatile memory device. The device comprises a strain source, an injection filter, a first conductive region, a second conductive region, and a third conductive region. The strain source permits piezo-effect in ballistic charges transport to enable the piezo-ballistic-charges injection mechanism in device operations. The injection filter permits transporting of charge carriers of one polarity type from the first conductive region, through the filter, and through the second conductive region to the third conductive region while blocking the transport of charge carriers of an opposite polarity from the second conductive region to the first conductive region. The present invention further provides an energy band engineering method permitting the devices be operated without suffering from disturbs, from dielectric breakdown, from impact ionization, and from undesirable RC effects.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Divisional of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/055,427 filed on Feb. 9, 2005, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,297,634 entitled“METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SEMICONDUCTOR DEVICE AND SEMICONDUCTOR MEMORYDEVICE”, which is a Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser.No. 11/007,907 filed on Dec. 8, 2004, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,115,942entitled “METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR NONVOLATILE MEMORY” and which is alsoa Continuation-In-Part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/457,249filed on Jun. 6, 2003, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,958,513 entitled“FLOATING-GATE MEMORY CELL HAVING TRENCH STRUCTURE WITH BALLASTIC-CHARGEINJECTOR AND ARRAY OF MEMORY CELLS”.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to semiconductor device and semiconductormemory device. More particularly, the present invention relates tomethods and apparatus on transporting charges in these devices usingpiezo-ballistic-charges injection mechanism. Charge states of memorydevices can be altered by injecting piezo-ballistic holes or byinjecting piezo-ballistic electrons on charge storage regions of memorycells for erase and for program operations, respectively.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Ballistic transport of charge carriers is a well-known phenomenon insolid state physics. It represents charge carriers transporting in anactive layer of conductive material (e.g. a semiconductor crystal)without scattering at all (i.e. transporting in a “ballistic” way). Theactive layer has to be kept thin enough to permit carrier transmissionwith substantially no scattering. Under these conditions, the transportof carriers resembles that in vacuum, but with the effective mass andgroup velocity of the carriers in the conductive material. Oneapplication of such physics has been proposed in a three terminalsdevice (or “transistor”) in an article by Mead (see Mead, “The TunnelEmission Amplifier,” Proceedings of the IRE, vol. 48, pp. 359-361,1960), which is hereby incorporated by reference. U.S. application Ser.No. 09/942,338, which is hereby incorporated by reference, disclosedoperation method on non-volatile memory cells based on the chargeinjection mechanism and energy band structure illustrated in the notedarticle. However, there are several fundamental problems associated withthe charge injection mechanism and energy band structure in the notedarticle. Further, there are fundamental problems when such mechanism andband structure are employed for non-volatile memory operation. Moreover,there are several problems in the prior art memory cell need to beconsidered.

The present invention can best be understood with an understanding onhow ballistic charge injection mechanism works, how prior art energyband structure is constructed, and how the devices are operated.

FIG. 1 (prior art) shows a cell architecture 100, wherein there is atunneling gate 10, a ballistic gate 12 (also termed as “grid gate”), afloating gate 14, a source 16 and a drain 18 with a channel 20therebetween, and a body 22 in a substrate 23 of a first conductivitytype (e.g. p-type). The source 16 and drain 18 are formed in thesubstrate 23 and have a second conductivity type (e.g. n-type). Thefloating gate 14 is disposed over and insulated from the channel 20 by afloating gate dielectric 24. The ballistic gate 12 is disposed over andinsulated from the floating gate 14 by a retention dielectric 26.Likewise, the tunneling gate 10 is disposed over and insulated from theballistic gate 12 by a layer of tunneling dielectric 28. A dielectricfill material 29 is disposed around floating gate 14 and having its topsurface being coincident with the top surface of the ballistic gate 12.

FIG. 2A (prior art) illustrates the ballistic hot hole injection of suchmechanism in together with an energy band diagram for regions fromtunneling gate 10 to floating gate 14 along a vertical axis (not shown)in cell 100. The tunneling gate 10 is biased positively with respect tothe ballistic gate 12 to permit holes 30 in the tunneling gate 10 totunnel through a tunneling barrier having a valence band barrier height32 between a valence band 10 b of the tunneling gate 10 and a valenceband 28 b of the tunneling dielectric 28. These holes in the ballisticgate region 12 can transport at energy higher than the valence band 12 bof that region with some of these holes being able to reach theinterface between the ballistic gate 12 and the retention dielectric 26.When this bias is increased to a value such that those holes have energyhigher than a hole barrier height 34 at the interface, the holes will beable to enter a valence band 26 b of the retention dielectric region 26,making their way through that region and be collected on the floatinggate 14. To complete the erase operation, a sufficient amount of holesmust be injected onto the floating gate 14 to neutralize negativecharges thereon.

The ballistic hot electron injection for programming prior art memorycell is done similarly to the ballistic hot hole injection except byreversing the bias polarity. Referring to FIG. 2B (prior art), thetunneling gate 10 is biased negatively with respect to the ballisticgate 12 to permit electrons 31 in the tunneling gate 10 to tunnelthrough the tunneling dielectric 28. These electrons in the ballisticgate region 12 can transport at energy higher than a conduction band 12a of that region with some of these electrons being able to reach theinterface between the ballistic gate 12 and the retention dielectric 26,surmounting an electron barrier 35 and entering the floating gate 14.

Problems on Charge Injection Mechanism of Prior Art

It is known that there are various types of holes, namely the light-hole(LH) and the heavy-hole (HH), in semiconductors (e.g. Si, Ge, GaAsetc.). The light-hole has a lighter effective mass than the heavy-hole,and difference between them depends on the band structure of the valencesub-bands of semiconductors. Prior art did not distinguish these twodifferent types of holes while employing ballistic hole injectionmechanism for erasing prior art memory cells. Further, the prior art didnot teach the effects associated with these two types of holes on theinjection mechanism. Thus, the injection scheme employed in prior art isbelieved to suffer from following problems:

1) Low Injection Efficiency

It is known that the population of holes in a semiconductor is primarilyof the heavy-hole (HH). This is to first order due to its largerdensity-of-state effective mass. For example, in silicon, it is knownthe HH occupied about 80 percent of the total population of holes (see,for example, Fischetti et al., Journal of Appl. Physics, vol. 94, pp.1079-1095, 2003). Further, it is known the ballistic carrier transportis characterized by its mean-free-path, where a ballistic carrier havinga longer mean-free-path can transport a longer distance withoutscattering. The mean-free-path is approximately inversely proportionalto the mass of the carriers. Therefore, HH typically has a shortermean-free-path, and are more likely to experience scattering eventsthrough interacting with other types of carriers (e.g. phonons). Thus, aballistic HH is more prone to loose its ballistic nature during itstransport in a semiconductor region. When a ballistic HH transports atenergy greater than its thermal energy, it is therefore more likely toloose its energy to become a thermal carrier. Even not loosing all itsenergy, HH can have its energy component in the direction to thefloating gate region (or targeted destination) be significantly loweredsuch that the hole has insufficient energy to surmount the barrierheight 34 of the insulator 26. In other words, when ballistic holes areemployed for erasing prior art memory cells, since the majoritypopulation of the hole carriers are of the HH type, which has a shortermean-free-path, most of the supplied holes cannot contribute to theerase operation as anticipate. This causes waste on total current. Thecombined effects of population and effective mass result in theballistic hole injection efficiency significantly lower than one usuallycan expect. (Here, the efficiency is defined as number of chargescollected compared to total number of charges supplied).

2) Higher Power Consumption and Slower Erase Speed

The aforementioned effects were ignored in prior art memory cells, andhence the cells require more electrical current be supplied, thusconsuming more electric power, in order to complete an erase operation.Further, the low hole injection efficiency in prior art cells can resultin slow erase problem when implementing the cells in their productapplications.

Problems on Parasitic-Electrons Backward Injection

Please refer to FIG. 3A on this problem. FIG. 3A is similar to FIG. 2Aexcept with additional parasitic electrons 36 and 37 in the valence band12 b and conduction band 12 a, respectively. The electrons 36 and 37 arealso known as the valence electrons 36 and the conduction electrons 37,respectively. Both electrons 36 and 37 are shown transporting along abackward direction (hereinafter “backward injection”) from ballisticgate 12 to tunneling gate 10 when holes 30 are injected from tunnelinggate 10 to ballistic gate 12 along a forward direction (hereinafter“forward injection”) for erase operation. To suppress these parasiticelectrons, prior art taught requirements on material for ballistic gate12, where material with larger work function, such as a heavily dopedp-type polysilicon (“p+ polysilicon”), is required. P+ polysilicon istaught in the prior art because electrons 37 in that material is usuallynegligible. Further, prior art taught a symmetrical tunneling stackstructure comprising tunneling gate 10, tunneling dielectric 28, andballistic gate 12, wherein tunneling gate 10 and ballistic gate 12 areof p+ polysilicon. The tunneling dielectric 28 is constructed in asingle layer of oxynitride with oxide fraction engineered at level lessthan about 77% such that current flow of the backward injected electronscan be kept at similar current level as that of the forward injectedholes 30. In other words, the current of backward injected electrons inprior art cell cannot be entirely suppressed. This causes waste on totalcurrent as the forward injected charge and its current is the one ofinterest for cell operations. Further, there are several otherfundamental deficiencies on the symmetrical tunneling structure and cellstructure of prior art. The issue is described next with reference toFIGS. 3A and 3C.

Referring to FIG. 3A, for ballistic gate 12 of a p+ polysilicon in priorart, electrons 37 in that region is usually negligible when a lowvoltage is applied between tunneling gate 10 and ballistic gate 12.Therefore, tunneling current of electrons 37 is negligible. Theparasitic electrons thus mainly comprise electrons 36 of valence band 12b and are tunneled to tunneling gate 10 through a trapezoidal-shapedbarrier (also known as “direct tunneling”). However, when a voltage oferase operation (e.g. 5V) is applied between tunneling gate 10 andballistic gate 12, the portion of ballistic gate 12 next to tunnelingdielectric 28 can be inadvertently inverted and thus a layer ofelectrons 37 can still be formed therein. The electrons 37 are formednear the interface between tunneling dielectric 28 and ballistic gate 12and can be emitted into tunneling gate 10 along path 37 a to become hotelectrons having energy higher than a minimum of conduction band 10 a ofthat region. The tunneling can be through a triangle-shaped tunnelingbarrier (also known as “Fowler-Nordheim tunneling”) having a barrierheight 33 that is lower than that of electrons 36 by an energy gap 12 cof the ballistic gate 12. Therefore, due to the lower barrier height andthe triangular shaped barrier for electrons 37, a much strongertunneling current is expected once tunneling process for electrons 37starts. FIG. 3C illustrates the parasitic currents J_(CE) and J_(VE),associated with conduction electrons (“CE”) 37 and valence electrons(“VE”) 36, respectively. The voltage dependence of current J_(CE) isseen much stronger than that of current J_(VE) due to the much strongerdependence of current on voltage when charges tunneling through atriangle-shaped barrier. Parasitic current J_(CE) is seen dominating thetotal current in the higher voltage range (e.g. about 5V). The resultsshow that electrons 37 dominate the parasitic electrons 36 in valenceband 12 b and hence the total parasitic electrons tunneled into thetunneling gate 10. Note that this effect is work function independent.The p+ polysilicon/oxynitride/p+ polysilicon tunneling stack in priorart overlook such effect, and hence the prior art cell 100 can sufferfrom the parasitic carriers backward tunneling. Therefore it cannotfunction properly.

Problems on Parasitic-Holes Backward Injection

Parasitic holes backward injection problem is another major problem forthe mechanism employed in prior art. Please refer to FIG. 3B on thisproblem. FIG. 3B is similar to FIG. 2B except with additional parasiticholes 38 shown in the valence band 12 b and some others elements (e.g.electrons 40 and 40′) to be discussed in a later session. Holes 38 areshown transporting in the backward direction from ballistic gate 12 totunneling gate 10 when electrons 31 are injected in the forwarddirection for program operation of prior art cell. The problem onbackward injected holes 38 is caused by the requirement on higher workfunction in prior art. Further there are shown barrier height 10 c forforward injected electrons 31, and barrier height 39 for backwardinjected holes 38. Referring to FIG. 3B, as work function of theballistic gate 12 is increased, once it's beyond a level where thebarrier 39 becomes less than the barrier height 10 c, parasitic holes 38can be backward injected to tunneling gate 10 and can result in problemsto the program operation similar to that caused by the parasiticelectrons to the erase operation. Therefore, the symmetrical tunnelingstructure of prior art cannot be optimized to suppress parasitic chargecarriers for both program and erase operations simultaneously. Suchproblem prevents tunneling gate 10 in the prior art cell from being usedas a single electrode for supplying both types of charges (i.e.electrons and holes). Therefore, it is believed prior art require twoseparate tunneling gates: one for electron tunneling injection, and theother one for hole tunneling injection. This requirement results inlarger cell size, and limits the cell of prior art from practicalapplication.

This problem also exists in operating the amplifier by Mead, whereinmetal is employed as the material for base, which is equivalent to theballistic gate 12 in FIG. 3B. The backward injected holes can undulyincrease the base current of the amplifier, and hence degrade theperformance of such device when used an amplifier.

Problems on Impact Ionization

In addition to the problems described above, the injection mechanism andenergy band structure employed in prior art also can suffered fromimpact ionization problem. FIG. 3B shows the impact ionization problemin the prior art band structure in FIG. 2B. There are shown electrons 40in the conduction band 10 a of tunneling gate 10. In the programoperation of prior art, a typical voltage of −2 V and a +2 V is appliedto the tunneling gate 10 and ballistic gate 12, respectively. Thevoltage difference between these gates has to be greater than a minimumvoltage in order to supply sufficient energy for electrons 31 (see FIG.3B) to surmount the barrier height 35 to enter the floating gate 14.However, due to the high bias thus introduced across tunnelingdielectric 28, an inversion layer of electrons 40 can be formed in theconduction band 10 a of the tunneling gate 10 of p+ polysilicon.Further, another mechanism that can form electrons 40 is through theimpact generation process triggered by the backward injected holes 38.As is clearly shown in FIG. 3B that as these holes 38 enter intotunneling gate 10, their energy can be high enough to generate, throughimpact ionization process, secondary electrons 40 in conduction band 10a or energetic electrons 40′ having energy higher than conduction band10 a. These conduction electrons 40 and 40′ thus generated are termed“Impact-Ionized CE” and behave very differently than the electrons 31 atthe valence band 10 b. Similar to that illustrated in FIG. 3C, in suchrange of bias, the current of CE (J_(CE)) is much larger than thecurrent of VE (J_(VE)). In other words, the generated CE 40 and 40′(either through inversion or through impact-ionization) can dominate thetunneling current between gates 10 and 12 of prior art.

Likewise, impact ionization problem can also happen in ballistic gate 12and can be triggered by electrons 40 or by energetic electrons 40′transported from tunneling gate 10. As described above, these electrons40 and 40′ are inadvertently generated under the bias condition forprogram operation. The presence of these electrons is not desirable asthey carry a much higher energy than that carried by electrons 31. Asillustrated in FIG. 3B, these electrons 40 and 40′ can tunnel throughthe tunneling dielectric 28 at such a high energy into ballistic gate 12and subsequently cause impact ionization therein, where pairs ofelectrons 40 b and holes 40 a are created. The holes 40 a are highlyenergized and can be backward injected to gate 10 creating traps indielectric 28 as passing through, thus causing reliability problem. Itshould be noted that similar problem can exist in FIG. 3A, whenenergized electrons (not shown) having energy higher than conductionband 12 a are created in the ballistic gate 12 by the injected holes 30.

It is now clear that the impact ionization and the inversion layerformation can exist in the tunneling gate 10 in the energy bandstructure for the ballistic injection scheme of prior art. All theseeffects can create parasitic electrons 40 and 40′ in tunneling gate 10.The effects and the parasitic electrons in the tunneling gate region 10were not taken into account in the prior art. These effects areuncontrollable, where current can unduly increase to result in currentloading issue on supporting circuitry for memory operations. The effectsfurther cause reliability problem. To avoid these problems in programoperation, the allowable maximum voltage between gates 10 and 12 ofprior art cells has to be limited under a threshold voltage to avoid theformation of electrons 40 and/or 40′ in tunneling gate 10. The rangebetween the minimum and the maximum program voltages defines a workablevoltage range for program operation of prior art, and is quite narrowfor the injection mechanism employed in prior art (less than about0.6V). The cell structure in prior art thus demands stringent control onthe threshold voltage, and is believed having low manufacturabilityyield and difficulties in practical applications.

Similar to the program operation, for the erase operation (referring toFIG. 3A), the impact-ionization process can also occur in tunneling gate10 due to electrons 37 backward injected from ballistic gate 12. Thebackward injected electrons 37 have energy high enough to impact ionizecharge carriers in tunneling gate 10 to cause loading issue onsupporting circuitry and reliability problem. The injection mechanism,energy band and cell structure in prior art thus face similar issues inboth the program and the erase operations, and the memory is believedhaving low manufacturability yield and difficulties in practicalapplications.

Problems on Dielectric Breakdown

Please refer to FIG. 2A for the illustration. In the erase operation ofprior art, a typical voltage of +2.5 V and a −2.5V is applied totunneling gate 10 and ballistic gate 12, respectively. The voltagedifference between these two gates has to be greater than a minimumvoltage in order to supply sufficient energy for holes 30 to surmountthe barrier height 34. However, for the energy band structures proposedin the prior art, such voltage results in a maximum field in the rangeof about 10 MV/cm to about 20 MV/cm across the tunneling dielectriclayer 28. In such range of high field, the tunneling dielectric 28 isbelieved suffered from dielectric breakdown (see FIG. 3C). To avoid adielectric breakdown event in cell operation, the maximum allowablevoltage between gates 10 and 12 has to be limited under the dielectricbreakdown voltage. The range between the minimum and the maximumvoltages defines a workable voltage range for the erase operation, andis quite narrow in prior art (typically less than about 0.7V). The cellstructure in prior art thus demands stringent control on the dielectricbreakdown, and is believed having difficulties in practicalapplications.

Problems on Parasitic Capacitance

In the energy band structure and cell structure of prior art, thethickness of the tunneling dielectric layer 28 is chosen with alimitation typically in the range of about 2 nanometer to 4 nanometer(“nm” hereinafter) in order to permit charge carriers tunneling throughthat layer. Therefore, it results in a large parasitic capacitance Cbetween gates 10 and 12, and is undesirable as it introduces adverseimpact on cell operation. The capacitance issue can be better understoodby referring to the diagram in FIG. 3D (prior art), wherein C_(BG-TG) isthe capacitance between ballistic gate 12 and tunneling gate 10, andC_(BG-FG) is the capacitance between ballistic gate 12 and floating gate14. The total capacitance seen by ballistic gate 12 comprises two maincomponents shown in FIG. 3D, and approximately equals the summation ofC_(BG-FG) and C_(BG-TG). In most situations, the total capacitance canbe dominated by C_(BG-TG) due to the much thinner thickness for thetunneling dielectric layer 28 than that for the retention dielectriclayer 26, which is typical in the range of about 7 nm to about 12 nm.The capacitance issue is worse when employing dielectric with higherdielectric constant (e.g. oxynitride), which is provided in the priorart for suppressing the parasitic electrons in ballistic gate 12 duringhole injection for the erase operation. Therefore, the cell architecturein prior art further suffer from the compromise between suppressing theparasitic electrons and suppressing the total capacitance of ballisticgate 12.

Problems on Large Resistance

In the prior art, ballistic gate 12 is the active layer for ballistictransport and is required to be with a thickness in the range of a fewtimes of the mean-free path of carrier scattering (typically in therange of 10-20 nm), in order to permit the injected carrierstransporting through ballistic gate 12 with good efficiency. The needson a thin thickness unavoidably results in a high sheet resistance tothat layer. As described earlier, to reduce parasitic electron tunneling(see FIG. 3A), prior art is limited to using p-type Si for bothtunneling gate 10 and ballistic gate 12 when polysilicon is used as thematerial for these gates. It is known that a heavily doped p-typepolysilicon (“p+ polysilicon”) typically has a higher resistivity thanthat of a heavily doped n-type polysilicon (“n+ polysilicon”).Therefore, prior art suffers from a much larger resistance R on bothtunneling gate 10 and ballistic gate 12.

The adverse effect of a large R on memory cell performance can beunderstood from several directions. First, it can cause a large signaldelay due to the combining effects of the large R and the large C (i.e.the RC delay). This is particularly a main issue on cell operation asthe RC delay can limit the speed on accessing a memory cell whenembedded in a large memory array. Secondly, for disturb prevention onun-selected cells, an optimum set of predetermined voltages usually arerequired to be applied to those cells. However, due to the RC delay,voltages on un-selected cells can be different than the desired values,and hence cell disturb is more prone to happen. Furthermore, the large Rcan combine with a large current I to result in a IR effect, which cancause a voltage drop when passing a voltage in a signal line. The effectprevents the voltage on a designated electrode of a memory cell fromreaching its desired level, and hence can adversely impact celloperation. For example, the adverse impact on an unselected cell can bean undesired cell disturb, where the cell state is unintentionallychanged from one logic state (e.g. a “0”) to the other (e.g. a “1”). TheIR impact on a selected cell can be a slower speed on cell operations(i.e. program, erase, and read operations).

Problems on Weak Voltage-Dependence of Tunneling Current

The energy band structure in prior art is constructed to permit chargecarriers of one type tunneling from tunneling gate 10 to ballistic gate12 at a current level similar to that for the backward injectedparasitic electrons. This results in weak voltage-dependence on thecurrent-voltage relationship. For example, the current for an erasedisable condition (i.e. the condition to prevent an unselected cell froman erase disturb) is seen only 10⁴ times lower than that for the erasecondition. Similar results can be seen in the program disable conditionof prior art. Therefore, unselected cells in prior art are prone to celldisturb issues in both program and erase operations.

The aforementioned problems (e.g. impact ionization, dielectricbreakdown, parasitic capacitance, large resistance, and weakvoltage-dependent tunneling current etc.) also exist in the transistorby Mead. Further, another major problem encountered by the transistor isto do with the low transfer ratio due to the low efficiency of theinjection mechanism. Choosing electron as the ballistic carriers fortransistor operation can somewhat improve the transfer ratio due to ahigher efficiency for electron than that for holes. However, theefficiency typically still ranges from about 0.01 to about 0.4, and thusprevents the transistor from practical applications.

These problems can be overcome in accordance with one aspect of thepresent invention by providing a piezo-ballistic-charge-injectionmechanism. Employing the mechanism, the present invention furtherprovides technique altering effective mass of ballistic charge carriersand hence its mean-free-path. Additionally, employing the mechanism, thepresent invention provides technique increasing carriers population insub-bands or valleys favorable to their transport. Thepiezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism is implemented in cellstructures in accordance with the present invention. Further, theseproblems can be overcome in accordance with another aspect of thepresent invention by providing a barrier height engineering concept onenergy band structure, by providing a novel method altering barrierheights, by providing injection filter structures, and by providing newstructures on cell and devices.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

It is an object of the invention to provide methods operatingsemiconductor devices and nonvolatile memory using the aforementionedenergy band structure and injection mechanism.

Briefly, a preferred embodiment of the present invention is a methodoperating a semiconductor device. The device comprises a firstconductive region, a second conductive region disposed adjacent to andinsulated from the first conductive region, a third conductive regiondisposed adjacent to and insulated from the second conductive region,and a strain source providing mechanical stress to at least one of thefirst and the second conductive regions. The method comprises the stepsof applying a first voltage to the first conductive region, applying asecond voltage to the second conductive region, and applying a thirdvoltage to the third conductive region to inject charge carriers fromthe first conductive region through the second conductive region intothe third conductive region.

Briefly, another preferred embodiment of the present invention is amethod operating a nonvolatile memory cell having a plurality of states.The memory cell comprising a first conductive region, a secondconductive region disposed adjacent to and insulated from the firstconductive region, a third region disposed adjacent to and insulatedfrom the second conductive region, a strain source providing mechanicalstress to at least one of the first and the second conductive regions,and spaced-apart source and drain regions of a first conductivity typein a body of a semiconductor of a second conductivity type. The methodcomprises the steps of applying a first voltage to the first conductiveregion, applying a second voltage to the second conductive region,applying a body voltage to the body, applying a source voltage to thesource region, and applying a drain voltage to the drain region toestablish one of the plurality of states of the memory cell by injectingcharge carriers from the first conductive region through the secondconductive region into the third conductive region.

Briefly, another preferred embodiment of the present invention is amethod operating a nonvolatile memory cell. The memory cell comprises afirst conductive region having charge carriers, a second conductiveregion, an injection filter including a blocking dielectric having aband offset with respect to the first conductive region, a third regiondisposed adjacent to and insulated from the second conductive region,and spaced-apart source and drain regions of a first conductivity typein a body of a semiconductor of a second conductivity type. The methodcomprises the steps of applying a first voltage to the first conductiveregion and applying a second voltage to the second conductive region tosubstantially block the charge carriers transporting from the firstconductive region to the second conductive region.

Briefly, another preferred embodiment of the present invention is amethod of operating a nonvolatile memory cell. The memory cell comprisesa first conductive region, a second conductive region, an injectionfilter establishing one or more barriers in between the first and thesecond conductive regions where each barrier has an entrance barrierheight at an entrance and an exit barrier height at an exit for chargecarriers traveling in a direction from the entrance to the exit, a thirdregion disposed adjacent to and insulated from the second conductiveregion, and spaced-apart source and drain regions of a firstconductivity type in a body of a semiconductor of a second conductivitytype. The method comprises the steps of applying a first voltage to thefirst conductive region and applying a second voltage to the secondconductive region. The first voltage and the second voltage applied, foreach barrier, to cause the entrance barrier height and the exit barrierheight to be greater than a carrier energy level for the charge carriersand the exit barrier height to be less than or equal to the entrancebarrier height whereby each barrier is trapezoidal-shaped.

Summary on Advantages of the Present Invention:

-   -   1) The present invention provides        piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism for semiconductor        device operations. High injection efficiency can be achieved by        employing such mechanism.    -   2) The present invention provides        piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism for memory cell        operations (e.g. erase and program). High injection efficiency        can be achieved by employing such mechanism.    -   3) The present invention addresses parasitic charges issue.    -   The energy band structure provided in the present invention        illustrate that the requirement on a large work function for        region where ballistic charge traverses, as required in the        prior art, is not necessary. Further, the cell and device        structures of the present invention removes the requirement in        the prior art on maintaining a similar current level for the        forward and the backward injected carriers. The backward        injection current can be reduced by the injection filter to fix        the current waste problem;    -   4) The present invention provides the injection filter structure        permitting thicker dielectrics be used in the cell and the        device. A thicker dielectric has the advantage on manufacturing        control, thus the memory cell and the device of the present        invention is more manufacturable;    -   5) The present invention permits cell and device operations        without suffering dielectric breakdown problem;    -   6) The present invention avoids impact ionization problems;    -   7) The present invention permits cell operation without cell        disturb by providing energy band structure that is more        effective on cell disturb prevention in un-selected cells than        that provided in the prior art;    -   8) The present invention suppresses large R effect and permits        lower sheet-resistance in SBG and in STG; and    -   9) The present invention suppresses large C effect;

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention willbecome clear to those skilled in the art in view of the description ofthe preferred embodiment as described herein and as illustrated in thefigures of the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention is herein described, by ways of example only, withreference to the accompanying drawings, wherein

FIG. 1 (prior art) illustrates a cross sectional view of a memory cellarchitecture of the prior art;

FIG. 2A (prior art) is the energy band diagram of the structure of FIG.1, illustrating the known energy band structure and the known holeinjection method of the prior art;

FIG. 2B (prior art) is the energy band diagram of the structure of FIG.1, illustrating the known energy band structure and the known electroninjection method of the prior art;

FIG. 3A is the energy band diagram of the structure of FIG. 1,illustrating the unknown problems in energy band structure for holeinjection in erasing memory cell of the prior art;

FIG. 3B is the energy band diagram of the structure of FIG. 1,illustrating the unknown problems in energy band structure for electroninjection in programming memory cell of the prior art;

FIG. 3C illustrates the tunneling electron current density as a functionof the applied voltage for various electron current components, andfurther illustrating the dielectric breakdown problem in the energy bandstructure of prior art in erase operation;

FIG. 3D illustrates various parasitic capacitances associated with theballistic gate of the memory cell of the prior art;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating the dispersion relationshipbetween energy E and momentum vector k for a semiconductor withoutstrain;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating the dispersion relationshipbetween energy E and momentum vector k for a semiconductor under tensilestress;

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating the dispersion relationshipbetween energy E and momentum vector k for a semiconductor undercompressive stress;

FIG. 7 is a plot illustrating normalized mean-free-path versus stresscalculated for compressive strained silicon;

FIG. 8 is a plot illustrating efficiency enhancement versus stress incompressive strained silicon with stress axis as the plotting parameter;

FIG. 9 is a plot illustrating efficiency enhancement versus stress incompressive strained silicon with mean-free-path of unstrained siliconas the plotting parameter;

FIG. 10 is an energy band diagram in accordance with the presentinvention illustrating the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanismfor injecting piezo-ballistic-holes, and further illustrating thebarrier heights and the trapezoidal barrier structure for blockingelectrons from backward injection;

FIG. 11 is an energy band diagram in accordance with the presentinvention illustrating the barrier height engineering forpiezo-ballistic-holes-injection mechanism;

FIG. 12 illustrates the effect of the barrier height engineering inaccordance with the present invention forpiezo-ballistic-holes-injection, wherein the barrier height of forwardinjected holes and the barrier height of backward injected electrons canbe altered in different degree by voltage between STG and SBG;

FIG. 13 is an energy band diagram in accordance with the presentinvention illustrating the barrier height engineering forpiezo-ballistic-electrons-injection mechanism;

FIG. 14 illustrates the effect of the barrier height engineering inaccordance with the present invention forpiezo-ballistic-electrons-injection, wherein the barrier height of theforward injected electrons and the barrier height of the backwardinjected holes can be altered in different degree by voltage between STGand SBG;

FIG. 15 is an energy band diagram in accordance with the presentinvention illustrating the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanismfor injecting piezo-ballistic-electrons, and further illustrating thebarrier heights and the trapezoidal barrier structure for blocking thepiezo-LH and HH carriers from backward injection;

FIG. 16A is a plot illustrating the injection efficiency versus thethickness of SBG;

FIG. 16B is a plot illustrating the dependence of sheet resistance ofSBG on mean-free-path for piezo-electrons injection efficiency at 1percent;

FIG. 17 is a plot illustrating the effect of applied voltage between STGand SBG on voltages across tunneling and blocking dielectrics in energyband structure in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 18A (prior art) is the energy band diagram of the structure of FIG.1, illustrating the unknown problem on barrier heights for blockingcharges transport when biasing prior art memory cell under the conditionfor program disturb prevention;

FIG. 18B (prior art) is the energy band diagram of the structure of FIG.1, illustrating unknown problem on barrier heights for blocking chargestransport when biasing the prior art memory cell under the condition forerase disturb prevention;

FIG. 19 is a chart illustrating the tunneling current density of variouscurrent components as a function of voltage between the STG and the SBG,and further illustrating the difference on these components between thepresent invention and the prior art;

FIG. 20A is a chart illustrating the total capacitance seen by SBG forenergy band structure of the present invention and of the prior art;wherein the total capacitance for structure of the present invention canbe significantly lowered with a proper selection on the BD thickness;

FIG. 20B is a chart illustrating the effect of thickness of the blockingdielectric on barrier heights and on voltages across the tunneling andthe blocking dielectrics;

FIG. 21 is the cross sectional view of a cell structure in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 22 is the cross sectional view of a cell structure in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 23 is the cross sectional view of a cell structure in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 24 is the cross sectional view of a cell structure in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIGS. 25-A, 25-B, 25-C are enlarged partial cross sections ofalternative configurations on SBG in accordance with the presentinvention;

FIG. 26 is the cross sectional view of a cell structure in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 27 is the cross sectional view of a cell structure in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 28 is the cross sectional view of a cell structure in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 29 is the cross sectional view of a cell structure in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 30 is the cross sectional view of a segment of a non-volatileelectrically alterable memory array in accordance with the embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 31A is an energy band diagram illustrating the self-limitingpiezo-ballistic-electron-injection mechanism at its initial state ofinjection;

FIG. 31B is an energy band diagram illustrating the self-limitingpiezo-ballistic-electron-injection mechanism at its ending state ofinjection;

FIG. 32A is an energy band diagram illustrating the self-limitingpiezo-ballistic-hole-injection mechanism at its initial state ofinjection;

FIG. 32B is an energy band diagram illustrating the self-limitingpiezo-ballistic-hole-injection mechanism at its ending state ofinjection;

FIG. 33 is the cross sectional view of a transistor structure inaccordance with another embodiment of the present invention;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Embodiments of the present invention described in the following detaileddescription are directed at injection mechanisms, methods and memorycell structures. Those of ordinary skill in the art will realize thatthe detailed description is illustrative only and is not intended torestrict the scope of the claimed inventions in any way. Otherembodiments of the present invention, beyond those embodiments describedin the detailed descriptions, will readily suggest themselves to thoseof ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.Reference will now be made in detail to implementations of the presentinvention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Whereappropriate, the same reference indicators will be used throughout thedrawings and the following detailed description to refer to the same orsimilar parts.

In the interest of clarity, not all of the routine features of theimplementations described herein are shown and described. It will beappreciated that the development effort on achieving specific goals canvary from one implementation to another and from one manufacturer toanother. Such efforts might be complex and time-consuming, but wouldnevertheless be a routine undertaking of engineering for those ofordinary skill in the art having the benefit of this disclosure.

Piezo-effect is a well-known physical phenomenon in solid-state physics.Piezo-effect can change electrical properties of a semiconductormaterial when a mechanical stress is applied to such material (see Pikusand Bir, Symmetry and Strain-Induced Effects in Semiconductors, NewYork: Wiley, 1974). The mechanical stress can be originated from astrain source (also can be termed as “stressor”) that is either internalor external to the material. This mechanical stress can be either incompressive form (compression), or in tensile form (tension), and canresults in a strain in the material. It breaks the symmetry within thecrystal lattice and hence deforms the potential therein. Some well-knownapplications of the piezo-effect on semiconductors (e.g. silicon) arepiezo-resistive effect in resistors, piezo-junction effect in bipolartransistors and diodes, piezo-Hall effect in sensors, and piezo-FETs inMOS transistors (“MOSFETs”).

The present invention provides the application of the piezo-effect tothe ballistic charge carrier injection and transport. A novelpiezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism is provided withillustrations made herein to various embodiments of memory cells andsemiconductor devices.

Piezo-Ballistic-Charge-Injection Mechanism

It is known that when a strain is in presence in semiconductors, it cansplit valleys in conduction band and degeneracy in valence sub-bands ofHH and LH (see Hensel et al., “Cyclotron Resonance Experiments inUniaxially Stressed Silicon: Valence Band Inverse Mass Parameters andDeformation Potentials, Phys. Rev. 129, pp. 1141-1062, 1963). FIGS. 4, 5and 6 provide schematic diagrams illustrating the dispersionrelationship between energy E and momentum vector k for a semiconductorwithout strain, under tensile stress, and under compressive stress,respectively. FIG. 4 shows electrons 41 filled in two conduction bandvalleys 42 and 44 having minima 42 a and 44 a, respectively. The minima42 a and 44 a are shown at similar energy level. With the differentcurvatures on the dispersion curves shown for the valleys, the leftvalley 42 has a heavier effective mass than the right one 44. Also shownare dispersion curves for LH and HH sub-bands 46 and 48 filled withholes 50. LH and HH sub-bands 46 and 48 are shown having energydegeneracy at a valence band maximum 52. The conduction band minima 42 aor 44 a and the valence band maximum 52 are separated by an energy bandgap 54.

FIG. 5 shows dispersion relationship similar to FIG. 4 except thesemiconductor is strained with tensile stress. The conduction bandvalleys are shown shifted with their minima moving upward (left valley42) or downward (right valley 44). This shift redistributes the electronpopulation within the two valleys, where electrons 41 are more populatedin the valley 44 due to a lower energy level on the conduction bandminimum 44 a. Repopulating electrons 41 to reside primarily in valley 44is desirable for two reasons. First, it provides desirable effect onelectron transport in the semiconductor due to the lighter electroneffective mass in the conduction valley 44. Second, the separation ofthe valleys is known being able to reduce inter-valley scattering ofelectrons. These effects can be more specifically illustrated by usingsilicon as an example. The strain in silicon can cause splitting of thesix-fold degenerate conduction band into two-fold and four-folddegenerate valleys with most electrons (about 100 percent of the entireelectrons) populated in the two-fold degenerate valley having lightereffective mass along electron transport direction. This strain effect isknown to increase electron mobility by about 50 percent and driftvelocity by about 16 percent in strained-Si MOSFETs (a type ofpiezo-FETs, see Vogelsang et al., “Electron Mobilities and High-FieldDrift Velocity in Strained Silicon on Silicon-Germanium Substrate”, IEEETrans. on Electron Devices, pp. 2641-2642, 1992). Similar strain effectcan be applied to enhance the transport of ballistic charge carriers.Thus, ballistic electron injection efficiency in silicon can be enhancedby repopulating electrons to the two-fold degenerate valley. This can beachieved through applying stress to silicon to cause strain alongdirection of electron transport. It is thus clear the piezo-effect canresult in heavily populated “piezo” electrons (i.e. electrons inmaterial under mechanical stress), which have a lighter mass and lowerscattering rates. When combining these effects to ballistic electroninjection, it provides a piezo-ballistic-electron-injection mechanism inaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 also illustrates the strain effect of tensile stress insemiconductor can further lift the degeneracy of valence sub-bands 46and 48, where the LH sub-band 46 is shown shifted upward and the HHsub-band 48 is shown shifted downward. Having this effect and the effectshifting down the conduction band valley 44, the energy band gap 55 canbe narrower than the energy band gap 54 of the unstrained case of FIG.4. Using silicon as an example, for tensile strained silicon layer (e.g.forming a silicon layer on a Si_(1-x)Ge_(x) layer), the energy level ofthe two-fold degeneracy in silicon can be shifted down by about 0.18 eVand the LH degeneracy can be shifted up by about 0.12 eV for a Ge molefraction x equals about 30 percent. The resulted energy band gap 55 thusis about 0.8 eV. Lifting the LH and HH degeneracy can further reduceinter-band scattering between LH and HH. Moreover, a deformation onvalence sub-bands can reduce effective mass of the light-holes. As aresult, the mean-free-path of ballistic light-holes can be longer in astrained semiconductor than that in an unstrained one. FIG. 5 also showsthat with lifting the degeneracy of LH and HH sub-bands, holes 50 can berepopulated from the HH sub-band 48 to LH sub-band 46. In fact, withsilicon strained under the tensile stress, LH population can beincreased from about 20 percent to about 90 percent of entire holespopulation (see Fischetti et al., Journal of Appl. Physics, vol. 94, pp.1079-1095, 2003). Further, it is known that LH has a much lowerscattering rate than that of HH (see Hinckley et al., “Hole TransportTheory in Pseudomorphic Si_(1-x)Ge_(x). Alloys Grown on Si(001)Substrates,” Phys. Rev. B, 41, pp. 2912-2926, 1990). These effects areconsidered in the injection mechanism of the present invention. Theholes injection efficiency can be enhanced by injecting “piezo” holes(i.e. holes in material under mechanical stress) through repopulatingholes from HH to LH sub-bands. This can be achieved through applyingtensile stress to regions where holes are injected from. With theheavily populated LH and their lower scattering rate, when applyingthese combined effects to ballistic charge injection, it provides amethod employing piezo-effect on ballistic-charge-injection. The methodenhances the ballistic holes injection efficiency through injectingpiezo ballistic holes (e.g. light-holes), and is provided as anotherembodiment of the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 illustrates dispersion relationship similar to FIG. 5 except thesemiconductor is under strain of compressive stress. Similar to thetensile stress, the compressive stress can lift the degeneracy ofvalence sub-bands 46 and 48, but in an opposite way as compared to thatshown in FIG. 5. The LH sub-band 46 is shown shifted downward and the HHsub-band 48 is shown shifted upward. Nevertheless, lifting the HH and LHdegeneracy can reduce inter-band scattering between LH and HH. Due tothis shift on valence sub-bands, the holes are shown primarily populatedin the HH valence sub-band. Further, the valence sub-bands are shownwith deformed curvatures as compared to those shown in FIG. 4 of theunstrained case. The deformed HH valence sub-band in FIG. 6 can reduceeffective mass of the heavy-holes to a lighter one. As a result, themean-free-path of holes in a strained semiconductor (i.e. piezo-holes)can be longer than that of an unstrained one. This effect providesanother embodiment of the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism inaccordance with the present invention.

It is known that the effective mass of a lifted valence sub-band tofirst order can be shifted linearly with stress (see Hensel et al.,“Cyclotron Resonance Experiments in Uniaxially Stressed Silicon: ValenceBand Inverse Mass Parameters and Deformation Potentials, Phys. Rev. 129,pp. 1141-1062, 1963, and see Hinckley et al., “Hole Transport Theory inPseudomorphic Si_(1-x)Ge_(x) Alloys Grown on Si(001) Substrates,” Phys.Rev. B, 41, pp. 2912-2926, 1990). Employing this relationship intogether with the relationship between effective mass andmean-free-path, the present invention provides a method to alter themean-free-path of piezo-ballistic-charges. This method representsanother embodiment of the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism,and is illustrated by adjusting the level of the stress along directionparallel to the direction of charge transport. FIG. 7 shows an exampleof the effect of stress on mean-free-path. The compressive stress onstrained silicon is used as an example to illustrate the effect on HH.Referring to FIG. 7, the vertical axis represents a normalizedmean-free-path, which is the ratio of the mean-free-path in strainedsilicon to that in unstrained silicon. As can be seen in the plot, thenormalized mean-free-path increases linearly with increasing stress.Further, the enhancement effect on mean-free-path is more significantfor stress axis parallel to [111] than to [001] of the crystallographicdirection in silicon.

FIG. 8 illustrates the efficiency enhancement versus the compressivestress for the piezo-ballistic hole injection. The efficiencyenhancement is the ratio of the efficiency of strained silicon to theefficiency of unstrained silicon. As can be seen in the plot, theenhancement increases super-linearly for stress in a moderate mechanicalstress (e.g. in the range of about 200 mega Pascal (“MPa”) or lower),and becomes approximately linearly proportional to the stress in ahigher range (e.g. in the range of about 400 MPa or higher). Further,the enhancement effect is much more significant for stress axis parallelto [111] than to [001]. About twenty times and about fifty times higheron the efficiency are illustrated achievable for stress axis along [001]and [111] directions, respectively.

FIG. 9 illustrates the sensitivity of the efficiency enhancement on themean-free-path of unstrained silicon (“mfp*” hereinafter). It should benoted that the difference on the mfp* can be due to, for example,different levels of impurity concentration in semiconductor. The stressin parallel with crystallographic direction [001] is chosen in thisillustration. Referring to FIG. 9, it is noted that the efficiencyenhancement can be more significantly increased in a case having ashorter mfp* (e.g. 4 nm) than in a case having a longer mfp* (e.g. 10nm) when stresses of both cases are held at a same level. For example,the efficiency enhancement can be 1000 times higher when a stress of1000 MPa is applied to a silicon having mfp* of 4 nm, whereas the samestress can only achieve 10 times enhancement on efficiency in a siliconhaving mfp* of 10 nm. The effect demonstrated here is advantageous forscaled memory cell in advanced technologies, where a shorter mfp* isanticipated due to heavier impurity concentration in silicon. This isbecause a heavier impurity concentration in silicon can assist cellscaling into smaller geometry (for example, it can avoid unduly increaseon resistance of regions where ballistic-charges traverse when scaling amemory cell).

It should also now be clear that ballistic hole injection withheavy-hole can exist and can reduce the erase efficiency when employingballistic hole mechanism of prior art for erase operation of memorycells. It should also be clear that the transport mechanism of ballisticcarriers (LH, HH, or electrons) can be altered by employing thepiezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism. It should also be clear tothose of ordinary skill in the art that the teachings of this disclosurecan be applied to select different type of stress (e.g. tensile orcompressive stress) and to change the axis of the stress through whichthe holes population and their mean-free-path are altered such that theinjection efficiency in these cases can be enhanced.

Although the forgoing discussion has focused on injection ofpiezo-holes, it will be clear to those ordinary skills in the art thatsimilar considerations, their effects and advantages apply topiezo-ballistic-electrons-injection. Further, although the forgoingdiscussion has focused on semiconductor (e.g. silicon), it will be clearto those ordinary skills in the art that similar considerations, theireffects and advantages apply to other type of conductors (e.g. TiN, TaN,Si_(1-x)Ge_(x) alloys etc.).

FIG. 10 provides an energy band diagram to illustrate thepiezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism for injectingpiezo-ballistic-holes. Referring to FIG. 10, there is shown a strainedtunneling-gate (“STG”) 60 of a conductive material, a charge injectionfilter 62 having a tunneling dielectric (“TD”) 63 and a blockingdielectric (“BD”) 64, a strained ballistic gate (“SBG”) 66 of aconductive material, a retention dielectric (“RD”) 70, and a chargereceiving or storage region (“CSR”) 68 of a conductive material. Theenergy band diagram is illustrated for STG 60 of a heavily doped p-typepolycrystalline silicon (“p+ polysilicon”) and SBG 66 of a heavily dopedn-type polycrystalline silicon (“n+ polysilicon”). Also shown areconduction bands 60 a, 63 a, 64 a, 66 a, 70 a, and 68 a of STG 60, TD63, BD 64, SBG 66, RD 70, and CSR 68, respectively. Likewise, there areshown valence bands 60 b, 63 b, 64 b, 66 b, 70 b, and 68 b of STG 60, TD63, BD 64, SBG 66, RD 70, and CSR 68, respectively. The spacing betweenthe conduction band and valence band of each region represents an energygap of that region. In accordance with one preferred embodiment of theinjection filter 62, the energy band gap of TD 63 is shown wider thanthat of the BD 64. Further, there are shown a conduction band barrierheight 76 of band offset between conduction bands of 70 a and 66 a, anda valence band barrier height 77 of band offset between valence bands of70 b and 66 b.

Referring to FIG. 10, the STG 60 is strained to have the majoritypopulation of holes be comprised of the LH 72. This can be done by, forexample, applying a tensile stress to the STG 60 in accordance with oneembodiment of the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism. Also shownin FIG. 10 is the HH 73, which can coexist with the LH 72 in STG 60 butat a much lower population (e.g. at about 5 to about 20 percent of thetotal hole population).

The STG 60 can be biased positively with respect to the SBG 66 to injectpiezo-ballistic holes. The bias permits both types of holes 72 and 73 inSTG 60 region to tunnel through a tunneling barrier having a valenceband barrier height 75 between valence band 60 b of STG 60 and valenceband 63 b of TD 63. While traversing SBG 66, the HH 73 can experiencestrong scattering and hence lose its energy to become HH 73 a.Therefore, HH 73 cannot be injected into CSR 68. The LH 72, however,behaves very differently from the HH 73. Due to its longermean-free-path, the LH 72 can traverse the SBG 66 with much lessscattering than the HH 73. Therefore, LH can preserve their energy atlevel higher than the valence band 66 b of SBG 66 while traversing SBG66. Some of these holes are able to reach the interface between SBG 66and RD 70. When this positive bias is increased to a value such thatthose LH have energy higher than the barrier height 77, the LH 72 willbe able to enter the valence band 70 b of RD 70, making their waythrough RD 70 and be collected on CSR 68.

It is noted that while STG 60 is strained under the mechanism describedherein, the SBG region 66 can also be strained under a condition inaccordance with another embodiment of thepiezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism such that the mean-free-pathof holes traversing the SBG region 66 can be longer than mfp* of thatregion. For example, this can be done by applying a compressive stressto SBG 66 to take advantage on the effect shown in FIG. 7.

The charge injection filter 62 is disposed in between the STG 60 and theSBG 66 to permit transporting charge carriers of one polarity type (e.g.LH 72) from the STG 60 through the SBG 66 to the CSR 68 and to blocktransporting charge carriers of an opposite polarity type (e.g.electrons 74) from the SBG 66 to the STG 60. For thepiezo-ballistic-hole-injection shown in FIG. 10, LH 72 and HH 73 areshown transporting in a forward direction, whereas under the same biaspolarity, electrons 74 in SBG 66 are shown transporting in a backwarddirection. The energy band structure in FIG. 10 shows thebackward-injected carriers (i.e. electrons 74) has to transport throughmore barriers than the forward-injected carriers (i.e. LH 72 and HH 73)do. A first electron barrier 78 blocking the backward injected electrons74 comprises barrier heights 79 and 80 at an entrance side and at anexit side, respectively. Both barrier heights 79 and 80 are referencedto conduction band 64 a of BD 64. A second electron barrier 81 having abarrier height 82 at its entrance side forms another barrier blockingelectrons 74. The barrier height 82 is referenced to conduction band 63a of TD 63 at the interface between TD 63 and BD 64.

The charge injection filter provided herein is based on a barrier heightengineering concept. One specific embodiment illustrated in the presentinvention comprises a p+ polysilicon for the STG 60, a silicon dioxide(“oxide”) layer for the TD 63, a silicon nitride (“nitride”) layer forthe BD 64, and an n+ polysilicon for the SBG 66. The n+ polysilicon isconsidered for SBG 66 due to several considerations. A majorconsideration lies in the much higher solid solubility for n-typeimpurities (e.g. Arsenic, phosphorous etc) than that for p-typeimpurities (e.g. Boron). Impurity with a higher solid solubility isdesirable as it usually can dope the silicon heavier to result in alower sheet resistance, and is favorable for integrated circuits (IC)application. In the embodiment, polysilicon is employed as the materialfor STG 60 and SBG 66 due to its well proven yieldability,manufacturability, and compatibility with state of the art ICtechnology. An oxide with a thickness of about 7 nm to 10 nm is employedfor the RD 70 due to the same reason. The oxide layer used for TD 63 canbe with a thickness in the range of about 1.5 nm to 4 nm and preferablyin the range of about 2 nm to 3.5 nm. The thickness of TD 63 layer ischosen in the range where charge-carriers (electrons, LH or HH)transporting across the layer are primarily through the direct tunnelingmechanism. The thickness of BD 64 is chosen to block charge-carriersfrom tunneling through both BD 64 and TD 63 layers when a modest voltagein the range of about 1 V to about 2.5V is applied between STG 60 andSBG 66. The thickness of BD 64 is further chosen to permit one type ofcharge carriers (e.g. LH) transporting in the forward direction and toblock the other type of charge carriers (e.g. electrons) fromtransporting in the backward direction when in a higher voltage range(3V or higher). As will be described in the barrier height engineeringtheory hereinafter, the selection on thickness of BD 64 is alsodetermined by it dielectric constant. In general, the thickness of BD 64can be thinner or thicker than that of TD 63 provided the tunnelingstack of TD 63 and BD 64 can effectively meet the forgoing requirements.For example, in the specific embodiment, if an oxide with 3 nm (or 30 Å)is chosen for TD 63, then the minimum thickness for BD 64 can be about 2nm (or 20 Å) or thicker. For the specific embodiment, the oxide for TD63 can be a HTO (high temperature oxide) or a TEOS layer formed by usingconventional deposition technique, or a thermal oxide by using thermaloxidation technique well-known in the art. The nitride for BD 64 can bea high quality nitride without charge trapping centers in its band gap.This high quality nitride can be formed in NH₃ (ammonia) ambient at ahigh temperature (e.g. 1050° C.) by using, for example, RTN (RapidThermal Nitridation) technique well-known in the art.

Barrier Height Engineering for Piezo-Ballistic-Holes-Injection

A greater detail on the barrier height engineering concept is nowprovided. FIG. 11 illustrates an energy band diagram similar to that inFIG. 10 except with less band bending in the energy band of theinjection filter 62 to reveal more details on barrier heights. Inaddition to those regions and their reference indicators shown in FIG.10, in FIG. 11 there is shown a barrier height 83 of conduction bandoffset between 63 a and 66 a. The barrier height 83 is at the exit sideof the second electron barrier 81 for blocking the backward injectedelectrons 74. Moreover, there is shown a barrier height 84 of valenceband offset between 63 b and 60 b. The barrier heights 75 and 84 are atthe entrance and the exit sides, respectively, of a first hole barrier85 for blocking the forward injected holes 72 and 73. Further shown area barrier height 86 of valence band offset between 64 b and 60 b at theentrance side of a second hole barrier 87, and a barrier height 88 ofvalence band offset between 64 b and 60 b at the exit side of the secondhole barrier 87. The second hole barrier 87 also has the effect onblocking the forward injected holes 72 and 73. The STG 60 is strained tohave the hole population in that region be primarily of the LH 72.Therefore, the LH 72 is anticipated having a heavier injection flow. Anarrow 72 a of a wider line width is depicted in FIG. 11 to illustratethe heavier flow for LH carrier as a result of this effect.

It is now clear that with the energy band structure in accordance withthe present invention, there are two hole barriers 85 and 87 relevant tothe forward injected piezo-ballistic-charges of LH 72 and HH 73.Similarly, there are two electron barriers 78 and 81 relevant to thebackward injected electrons 74 in SBG 66. To permit an efficientpiezo-ballistic-charge-injection, it is desirable that the barriersheights of the first and the second hole barriers 85 and 87 can beelectrically altered to assist the forward injection ofpiezo-ballistic-charges. In a contrast, to block the electrons 74 in SBG66 from backward injection into STG 60, it is desired to keep thebarrier heights 79 and 80 of the first electron barrier 78, and thebarrier heights 82 and 83 of the second electron barrier 81 high enoughthrough out the voltage range for the piezo-ballistic charge injection.

The barrier height 86 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TB)) of the second hole barrier 87can be expressed to a first order by following formula:ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TB)=ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(TB) −|V′ _(TD)|  —(1)where

ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(TB) is the valence band offset between STG 60 and BD 64under flat-band condition, which represents the condition when electricfields in TD 63 and BD 64 are zero.

V′_(TD) is the voltage drop across TD 63 duringpiezo-ballistic-hole-injection, and is expressed asV′ _(TD)=(V _(a) −V _(fb))/[1+(ε_(TD) *T _(BD))/(ε_(BD) *T _(TD))].V_(a) is the applied voltage across STG 60 and SBG 66;V_(fb) is the flat-band voltage;ε_(TD) and T_(BD) is the dielectric constant for TD 63 and BD 64,respectively; and T_(TD) and T_(BD) is the thickness for TD 63 and BD64, respectively.

Similarly, the barrier height 82 (ΔΦ_(CE) _(—) _(GT)) of the secondbarrier 81 for blocking electrons backward injection can be expressed asfollowing formula:ΔΦ_(CE) _(—) _(GT)=ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(GT) −|V′ _(BD)|  —(2)where

ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(GT) is the conduction band offset between SBG 66 and TD63 under flat-band condition,

V′_(BD) is the voltage drop across BD 64 duringpiezo-ballistic-hole-injection, and is expressed asV′ _(BD)=(V _(a) −V _(fb))/[1+(ε_(BD) *T _(TD))/(ε_(TD) *T _(BD))].

Based on the theory, a concept on engineering barrier height forselectively filtering charge carriers is provided herein. From theformula (1) and (2) provided herein, it is clear that barrier height 86(ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TB)) and barrier height 82 (ΔΦ_(CE) _(—) _(GT)) havedifferent dependence on V_(a). The voltage dependence permits the twobarrier heights 86 and 82 be electrically altered by applying a voltageacross the dielectrics. Furthermore, the barrier height dependence onvoltage is asymmetrical and is primarily determined by the combinedeffects of dielectric constant and dielectric thickness (i.e. the “εTeffect”). In other words, by proper selecting a set of “εT” for TD 63and for BD 64, one barrier height can be electrically altered in adifferent degree than the other. In an extreme case, at an applied bias,one barrier height can be altered to become disappear while the otherone stays in similar range as one in the flat-band condition.

This effect is provided in the present invention and is used for chargeinjection, charge blocking, and charge filtering. The effect can becomeclearer with referencing to FIG. 12. FIG. 12 illustrates an example onthe barrier height engineering concept using the theory describedherein. As is apparent, the barrier height 86 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TB)) forholes 72 and 73 in STG 60 decreases at a faster rate than the barrierheight 82 (ΔΦ_(CE) _(—) _(GT)) for electrons 74 in SBG 66. In fact, thebarrier height 86 disappears (i.e. equals zero) at an applied voltage ofabout +3.5 V between STG 60 and SBG 66 while there is still a barrierheight of about 2.5 eV remained for the barrier height 82 (ΔΦ_(CE) _(—)_(GT)). Thus, when the applied voltage is altered beyond this point,both LH 72 and HH 73 can tunnel through TD 63 without being blocked byBD 64 layer (as illustrated in FIG. 10). This effect permits LH and HH(72 and 73) be injected along the forward direction. Turning back toFIG. 12, the much weaker dependence of the barrier height 82 (ΔΦ_(CE)_(—) _(GT)) on the applied voltage maintains the barrier for blockingelectrons 74 in this voltage range and hence prevents electrons 74 frombackward injected into STG 60 (as illustrated in FIG. 10). The barrierheight engineering concept here provides a method through which anelectrically alterable filter can be constructed to filter out theunwanted carriers (e.g. the backward injected electrons 74) withoutaffecting the transport of the wanted carriers (e.g. the forwardinjected piezo-ballistic-holes 72 and/or 73).

It is desirable to maintain a trapezoidal-shaped band structure for thefirst electron barrier 78 in BD 64 within voltage range used forinjecting piezo-ballistic-holes. This can be achieved by keeping thevoltage across BD 64 (V′_(BD)) less than the barrier height 79 (ΔΦ_(CE)_(—) _(GB)) of the first electron barrier 78. This barrier structure canbe clearer captured by referring back to FIG. 10, wherein barrierheights 79 and 80 form a trapezoidal shape of structure in barrier 78with barrier heights 79 and 80 at its entrance side and at its exitside, respectively. A trapezoidal barrier is advantageous because itprovides a stronger effect on blocking electrons 74 from backwardtunneling than that can be provided by a triangular shaped barrier. Thebarrier height 79 of the trapezoidal barrier equals the conduction bandoffset between SBG 66 and BD 64. The barrier height 80 of thetrapezoidal barrier to first order equals ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(GB)−V′_(BD),where ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(GB) is the conduction band offset between SBG 66and BD 64. In the specific embodiment, for the applied voltage in therange of about +5 V to about +6V, the barrier height 80 is about 1.1 eVto about 0.9 eV. Thus, the trapezoidal barrier is maintained through outthe injection process of piezo-ballistic-holes. It is clear that thebarrier height 80 can be made higher by lowering V′_(BD) throughoptimizing dielectric constant and thickness of TD 63 and BD 64, astaught in the “εT effect” and the foregoing theory.

The energy band in FIG. 10 is illustrated with piezo-ballistic-holes 72and 73 injected through TD 63, through BD 64, and into SBG 66 region.The energy band is illustrated to reflect the barrier engineeringconcept with emphasis on the barriers that are used to block parasiticelectrons 74 from backward injection. Due to the larger dielectricconstant illustrated for BD 64 region, a smaller band bending and hencea smaller voltage across BD 64 is illustrated. The voltage across TD 63is illustrated larger than that across BD 64 due to its smallerdielectric constant. A larger dielectric constant for BD 64 region isdesirable for following considerations. First, it permits the energyband of BD 64 region be more like the original “rectangular shape”structure in the flat-band condition. This provides a more effectivefirst electron barrier 78 in BD 64 for blocking unwanted charge carriers(e.g. the parasitic electrons 74) from backward injection. Furthermore,the larger dielectric constant of BD 64 permits a larger portion of theapplied voltage appearing across TD 63 region. It thus preserves theeffects on tunneling the wanted charges (e.g. LH 72) while the appliedvoltage is maintained at the same level. Some of these holes will beable to traverse the SBG 66 region throughpiezo-ballistic-charges-injection mechanism to reach the interfacebetween SBG 66 and RD 70, and subsequently be collected on CSR 68region.

For the specific embodiment, voltage of STG 60 is chosen in the range ofabout +5.0 V to about +6.0 V relative to voltage of SBG 66 for thepiezo-ballistic-holes-injection.

The forgoing illustration on the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection andthe barrier height engineering is made on holes. Similar illustrationcan be made for injecting piezo-electrons, and is described next forcompleteness.

Barrier Height Engineering for Piezo-Ballistic-Electrons-Injection

Turning now to FIG. 13, there is shown an energy band diagram withpiezo-electrons 89 in the valence band 60 b of STG 60, and with LH 96and HH 97 in the valence band 66 b of SBG 66. The diagram is similar tothe diagram in FIG. 11 except STG 60 is negatively biased with respectto the SBG 66 by about 1 V to about 2 V. The potential of CSR 68 isshown positive with respect to the SBG 66 potential by about 0.75 V.Under this bias polarity between STG 60 and SBG 66, electrons 89 areshown transporting in a forward direction, whereas under the same biaspolarity, LH 96 and HH 97 SBG 66 are shown transporting in a backwarddirection. The energy band diagram is illustrated for a p+ polysiliconSTG 60 and an n+ polysilicon SBG 66. The LH 96 and HH 97 are unlikely toexist in an n+ SBG 66 in this bias condition. However, in a worse casesituation, they can exist in SBG 66 in the bias range (e.g. 4 V) usedfor piezo-electron injection, where an inversion layer of holes can beformed. Here, LH 96 and HH 97 are shown for illustrating the barriersassociated with it to consider this effect. It is worth noting that inprior art the n+ polysilicon cannot be employed for the ballistic gate12 in FIG. 2 due to its lower work function than that of a p+polysilicon. The n+ polysilicon is considered for SBG 66 due to severalconsiderations. A major consideration lies in the much higher solidsolubility for n-type impurities (e.g. Arsenic, phosphorous etc) thanthat for p-type impurities (e.g. Boron). Impurity with a higher solidsolubility is desirable as it usually can dope the silicon heavier toresult in a lower sheet resistance, and is favorable for integratedcircuits (IC) application.

In FIG. 13, there are two barriers relevant to the tunneling injectionof piezo-electrons 89 from valence band 60 b of STG 60. The first one isillustrated as a barrier 90 having barrier heights 91 and 92. Thebarrier height 91 equals the offset between valence band 60 b andconduction band 63 a at the entrance side of the barrier 90. The barrierheight 92 equals the offset between valence band 60 b and conductionband 63 a at the exit side of the barrier 90. The second one isillustrated as a barrier 93 having barrier heights 94 and 95. Thebarrier height 94 equals the offset between valence band 60 b andconduction band 64 a at the entrance side of the barrier 93. The barrierheight 95 equals the offset between valence band 60 b and conductionband 64 a at the exit side of the barrier 93. Similarly, there are twobarriers relevant to the backward injected LH 96 and HH 97 in valenceband 66 b of SBG 66. Referring back to FIG. 13, the first one isillustrated as a barrier 98 having barrier heights 98 a and 98 b. Thebarrier heights 98 a and 98 b equal the offset between valence band 66 band valence band 64 b at the entrance side and the exit side of thebarrier 98, respectively. The second barrier is illustrated as a barrier99 having barrier heights 99 a and 99 b. The barrier heights 99 a and 99b equal the offset between valence band 66 b and valence band 63 b atthe entrance side and the exit side of the barrier 99, respectively.

Turning back to FIG. 13, the backward injected LH 96 and HH 97 canresult in undesired problems. For example, it can triggerimpact-ionization in STG 60 when they got backward injected into thatregion due to their higher energy than the valence band 60 b. Further,these holes do not contribute to memory operation when employing thepiezo-ballistic-electron-injection for a program operation of a memorycell. Therefore, it can waste electrical current and hence power. It isthus desirable to block LH 96 and HH 97 from backward injection into STG60. The holes backward injection problem can be overcome in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention by keeping the barrier heightsof barriers 98 and 99 high enough through out the bias range inpiezo-ballistic-electron injection.

Referring to FIG. 13, the barrier height 94 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TB)) of thesecond barrier 93 for injecting piezo-electrons 89 can be expressed to afirst order by following formula:ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TB)=ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(TB) +Eg−|V _(TD)|  —(3)where

ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(TB) is the conduction band offset between STG 60 and BD64 when under the flat-band condition,

V_(TD) is the voltage drop across TD duringpiezo-ballistic-electron-injection, and is expressed asV _(TD)=(V _(a) −V _(fb))/[1+(ε_(TD) *T _(BD))/(ε_(BD) *T _(TD))];V_(a) is the applied voltage across STG 60 and SBG 66;V_(fb) is the flat-band voltage;

Similarly, the barrier height 99 a (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(GT)) of the secondbarrier 99 for holes backward tunneling can be expressed as followingformula:ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(GT)=ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(GT) −|V _(BD)|  —(4)where

ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(GT) is the valence band offset between SBG 66 and TD 63under flat-band condition,

V_(BD) is the voltage drop across BD 64 duringpiezo-ballistic-electron-injection, and is expressed asV _(BD)=(V _(a) −V _(fb))/[1+(ε_(BD) *T _(TD))/(ε_(TD) *T _(BD))].

From the foregoing formula (3) and (4), it is clear that barrier height94 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TB)) and barrier height 99 a (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(GT))have different dependence on V_(a). The barrier height dependence onvoltage is asymmetrical and is primarily determined by the combinedeffects of dielectric constant and dielectric thickness (i.e. the “εTeffect”). This effect is similar to that provided by barrier heights 86and 82 in the barrier height engineering forpiezo-ballistic-hole-injection. It is therefore clear that the barriersfor piezo-ballistic-electron-injection can be electrically altered in asimilar way as that provided for piezo-ballistic-hole-injection.

FIG. 14 illustrates an example on the barrier height engineering conceptusing the theory described herein forpiezo-ballistic-electron-injection. As is apparent, when decreasing theapplied voltage between STG 60 and SBG 66, the barrier height 94(ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TB)) for electrons at STG 60 decreases faster than thebarrier height 99 a (ΔΦVH _(—) _(GT)) for LH 96 and HH 97 in SBG 66. Thebarrier height 94 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TB)) in fact disappears (i.e. equalszero) at an applied voltage of about −3.5V while there is still asufficient barrier height of about 3.4 eV remained for the barrierheight 99 a (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(GT)). FIG. 15 illustrates the energy banddiagram when the applied voltage is decreased beyond this voltage level.As shown, the second barrier 93 for piezo-electrons 89 shown in FIG. 13disappears in FIG. 15 as the applied voltage is decreased beyond thislevel. Therefore, piezo-electrons 89 in STG 60 can tunnel through TD 63in direct tunneling without being blocked by BD 64 layer. This permitthe piezo-electrons be injected in the forward direction. The muchweaker dependence of barrier height 99 a (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(GT)) on theapplied voltage maintains the barrier 99 for blocking holes in thisvoltage range and hence can prevent holes from backward injection.Therefore, the barriers engineering concept here actually provides amethod through which an electrically alterable filter is constructed forpiezo-ballistic-electron-injection. The filter provides unique featurefiltering out the unwanted carriers (i.e. the backward injected LH 96and HH 97) without affecting the transport of the wanted carriers (i.e.the forward injected electrons 89).

FIG. 15 further illustrates the piezo-ballistic-electron-injectionmechanism. Proper mechanical stress is provided in STG 60 and/or SBG 66to create strain therein and hence to generate piezo-effect on electrons89 on their populations and their transport properties. With asufficient voltage (e.g. about −4 V) across gates 60 and 66, thepiezo-electrons 89 can traverse SBG 66, transport through RD 70, andfinally get collected on CSR 68. For the specific embodiment, voltage ofSTG 60 is chosen in the range of about −3.5 V to about −4.0 V relativeto voltage of SBG 66. FIG. 16A shows the injection efficiency plottedversus the thickness of the active layer (SBG 66) for ballistictransport comparing results from the present invention and from priorart. As illustrated, by using the piezo-ballistic-electron-injectionmechanism, the electrons 89 can be injected onto CSR 68 at much higherefficiency than that achievable by injecting normal electrons ofunstrained silicon. This is due to the lower scattering rate and longermean-free-path of the piezo-electrons, as described earlier (see, e.g.FIG. 5 and its description). This effect provides means in accordancewith one aspect of the present invention to fix the problems on largeresistance in prior art. FIG. 16B shows the dependence of sheetresistance of SBG 66 on mean-free-path when the injection efficiency ismaintained at a fixed value of 1 percent. By employing thepiezo-ballistic-electron-injection mechanism, the sheet resistance canbe reduced, for example, from 250 Ohms/square for unstrained silicon toabout 220 Ohms/square for strained silicon having similarmean-free-path. Employing the mechanism, FIG. 16B also shows thatfurther reduction on sheet resistance can be achieved by increasing themean-free-path from 10 nm to about 28 nm without compromising injectionefficiency.

FIG. 17 shows the effect of voltages across each dielectric and theirdependence on the applied voltage between gates STG 60 and SBG 66. Thematerials in the specific embodiment here are assumed for TD 63 and BD64. As is apparent, V_(TD) is much larger than V_(BD) for a same appliedvoltage between gates 60 and 66. In other words, a much larger voltageis seen across the material having a lower εT effect. Note that εTeffect can be dominated by the dielectric constant provided thethicknesses of both dielectrics are in similar range. FIG. 17 furthershows that the injection filter provides a voltage divider function,where the applied voltage is divided and shared by TD 63 and BD 64regions. The effect here can prevent the problem on dielectric breakdownand hence provides advantages over the prior art. For example, for anapplied voltage of about −4V, the total voltage across the prior artdielectric 28 can be about −4.9V, which can be close to the onset ofdielectric breakdown. In a contrast, due to the effect on the bandstructure of the present invention, this applied voltage results inabout −3.7V across TD 63 and about −1.2V across BD 64. Thus, the voltagedivider function of the filter provides more margins for preventing thedielectric breakdown problem. Although this discussion has focused oninjection of piezo-electrons, it will be clear to those ordinary skillsin the art that similar considerations, their effects and advantagesapply to piezo-ballistic-holes-injection.

It is desirable to keep the voltage across BD (V_(BD)) be less than thebarrier height 98 a in voltage range normally used forpiezo-ballistic-electrons injection. Keeping V_(BD) lower than barrierheight 98 a is desirable because it can maintain a trapezoidal-shapedband structure for holes barrier 98 in BD 64 to block the backwardinjected LH and HH more effectively. This barrier structure can becomeclear by referring to FIG. 15, wherein barrier height 98 a forms oneside of the barrier 98 (the entrance side for holes 96 and 97) andbarrier height 98 b forms the other side of the barrier (the exit sidefor holes 96 and 97). The barrier height 98 b at the exit side of thetrapezoidal barrier 98 to first order equals ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(GB)−V_(BD),where ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(GB) is the barrier height 98 a. In the specificembodiment, for an applied voltage of −4V between STG 60 and SBG 66, thebarrier height 98 b is about 0.7 eV, and hence the trapezoidal structurefor barrier 98 is maintained. It is clear that barrier height 98 b canbe made higher by lowering V_(BD) through optimizing dielectric constantand thickness of TD 63 and BD 64, as taught in the foregoing theory.

One of the unique portions of the present invention lies in the effectsprovided by the barrier height engineering concept and itsimplementation in the injection filter. The effects remove requirementon a large work function for the SBG 66 material in prior art.Furthermore, the injection filter provides voltage divider function,permitting voltage applied between STG 60 and SBG 66 be divided andshared by BD 64 and TD 63 without compromisingpiezo-ballistic-charge-injection. The voltage divider function canresolve the dielectric breakdown problem in prior art. Moreover,impact-ionization problem in STG 60, which can be triggered by thebackward injected charge carriers, can be effectively resolved whilesuppressing these carriers from backward injection by employing theinjection filter.

It is thus clear the injection filter and the energy band structureillustrated in the present invention can effectively block chargecarriers of one polarity type from transporting along a backwarddirection while passing charge carriers of an opposite polarity typetransporting along a forward direction during thepiezo-ballistic-charge-injection. Thus, the charge injection filter 62provides charge filtering mechanism to “purify” the charge flow. Thoughnot required, it is generally desirable that the material for SBG 66 hasa Fermi level in the flat band condition lies in about the middle of theenergy band gap of BD 64 of charge filter 62 to best utilize the chargefiltering mechanism when the band structure and the injection mechanismare employed in constructing memory cells.

Barrier Heights Engineering for Disturb Prevention

As employing the ballistic charge injection mechanism and energy bandstructure of the prior art in memory cell 100 placed in an arrayenvironment, cell state (e.g. a “0”) can be unintentionally changed tothe other state (e.g. a “1”) during the useful lifetime of usage due tocumulative disturbance introduced while conducting cell operations (e.g.program, erase, and read) throughout other cells that are within a samememory array. As will be described herein, the prior art cell is proneto these types of disturb problems. These disturb problems can howeverbe solved with the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism and energyband structure of the present invention.

Program Disturb

Program disturb can happen in an unselected memory cell in a memoryarray while programming a selected cell using thepiezo-ballistic-electrons-injection mechanism. The worse case forprogram disturb corresponds to the situation when CSR 68 of anunselected cell is positively charged (e.g. in the erased state).Turning now back to FIG. 13, disturb is caused by inadvertently injectcharges onto CSR 68, and hence is to do with the forward injected chargecarriers (e.g. electrons 89). It is thus clear that an effectiveblocking on forward injected electrons can prevent a disturb event. Thecharge blocking mechanism of the present invention relies on twobarriers provided in FIG. 13. A first one is the barrier 90 havingbarrier heights 91 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TT)) and 92 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TTB)) atentrance side and exit side, respectively, for the incoming electrons89. The barrier height 92 relates to the barrier height 91 throughformula:ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TTB)=ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TT) −|V _(TD)|  —(5),where V_(TD) is the potential across TD 63 when a voltage of programdisturb is applied between STG 60 and SBG 66. By keeping a positivevalue for ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TTB), these two barrier heights can keep thebarrier 90 be a trapezoidal shape barrier in TD 63.

Similarly, a second barrier is the barrier 93 having barrier heights 94(ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TB)) and 95 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TBG)) at entrance side andexit side, respectively, for the incoming electrons 89. The barrierheight 95 relates to the barrier height 94 through formula:ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TBG)=ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TB) −|V _(BD)|  —(6),where V_(BD) is the potential across BD 64 when the voltage of programdisturb is applied between STG 60 and SBG 66. By keeping a positivevalue for ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TBG), these two barrier heights can form atrapezoidal barrier in BD 64 for blocking the incoming electrons 89.Thus, with the trapezoidal barrier structure for both barriers 90 and93, the energy band structure provides an effective mechanism blockingincoming electrons 89 and hence prevents program disturb.

FIG. 18A shows a similar diagram as in FIG. 13 except it's for the priorart, and is used to illustrate the unknown problem on cell disturb. InFIG. 18A, there is shown the barrier height 10 c (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TT)),which corresponds to the barrier height for electrons 31. Under the biasfor disturb prevention, electrons 31 is shown be able to transportthrough dielectric 28 in direct tunneling mechanism and can reach theinterface between regions 12 and 26. The disturb prevention of prior artthus fully relies on keeping the energy level of electrons 31 lower thanthe barrier height 35 to ensure retention dielectric 26 be the barrierblocking the forward injected electrons 31 from entering floating gate14. However, there are situations that these electrons can enter intofloating gate 14 through tunneling into the conduction band 26 a ofretention dielectric 26 via Fowler-Nordheim tunneling mechanism whenretention dielectric 26 has an triangle-shaped energy band structureshown in FIG. 18A. In such an event, a change on cell state can occur asenough electrons are inadvertently introduced and accumulated onfloating gate 14. This effect results in a cell disturb. Also shown inFIG. 18A is the conduction electrons 40 in the p+ polysilicon tunnelinggate 10 with a barrier height 10 d illustrated as the barrier heightassociated thereto. Electrons 40 in a p+ polysilicon is usuallynegligible in normal voltage range (e.g. 2V) and can become significantin higher voltage (e.g. 3V) when the p+ polysilicon is inverted. FIG.18A shows that electrons 40 can be inadvertently injected into floatinggate 14, even the cell is biased under condition for preventing aprogram disturb. The cumulative disturbance introduced by this effectcan also result in a cell disturb.

With the barrier height engineering concept, the energy band structureconstructed in the present invention provides a more effective structurepreventing the program disturb than that in the prior art. Referringback to FIG. 13, the trapezoidal barrier 93 formed by BD 64 provides anadditional blocking barrier to the incoming electrons 89. The barrierheights 94 and 95 of this barrier can be optimized by a proper selectionon the dielectric constant and thickness for TD 63 and BD 64, as taughtin the theory for barrier height engineering, such that they can beelectrically altered in different degree than the barrier heights 91 and92 of TD 63. In general, it is desired to keep the two barrier heights94 and 95 of the trapezoidal barrier high enough to block the electrons89. For disturb prevention, a program-disturb voltage V_(pd) between STG60 and SBG 66 is chosen such that the energy level of electrons 89 inSTG 60 is under the barrier heights 94 and 95. It should be noted thatthe trapezoidal barrier in BD 64 can be preserved by keeping a positivevalue for the barrier height 95 (i.e. the one at the exit side). Thiscan be achieved by choosing a large value for the conduction band offset(ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(TB)) between STG 60 and BD 64 through proper selectionon materials for TD 63 and BD 64 or by keeping V_(pd) at a value lowerthan the summation of the barrier height ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(TB), theflatband voltage (V_(fb)), and energy band gap (Eg) of SBG 66. A betterway to capture the method provided here for disturb prevention is byreferring to the expression for the barrier height 95 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—)_(TBG)) described in formula (6), which can be further expressed asΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TBG)=ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(TB) +Eg−(|V _(pd) |+V _(fb)).As is clear mathematically in this formula, keeping the magnitude ofV_(pd) lower than a summation of ΔΦ_(CB) _(—) _(TB), Eg, and −V_(fb),can keep the barrier height 95 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TBG)) having a positiveheight, thus can preserve the trapezoidal barrier shape for barrier 93.For the specific embodiment, voltage of STG 60 is chosen in the range ofabout −1.0 V to about −2.0 V relative to voltage of SBG 66 for programdisturb prevention.

As described hereinbefore, the barrier height engineering permits aportion of V_(pd) be dropped across BD 64 region. Therefore, the voltageacross TD 63 is lower than that in the prior art. A lower voltage acrossTD 63 can prevent the formation of conduction electrons in the p+polysilicon of STG 60, and hence prevents program disturb caused by thehigher energy electrons 40 that occur in prior art. In the situationwhere electrons 40 do get formed in STG 60, program disturb of electrons40 can be suppressed by keeping the two barrier heights, 94 and 95, ofthe trapezoidal barrier high enough such that electrons 40 can beblocked from tunneling through TD 63 and BD 64. This can be done throughoptimizing the barrier structure, as taught in the barrier heightengineering theory.

Erase Disturb

Erase disturb can happen in an unselected memory cell in a memory arraywhile erasing a selected cell using the piezo-ballistic-holes-injectionmechanism. The worse case for erase disturb corresponds to the situationwhen CSR 68 of the unselected cell is negatively charged (e.g. in theprogrammed state). Please turn back to FIG. 11 for the illustration.FIG. 11 illustrates the energy band diagram corresponding to thissituation, wherein an erase disturb voltage is assumed to be about +2 Vbetween STG 60 to SBG 66. The charge blocking mechanism for erasedisturb prevention of the present invention relies on two barriersprovided in FIG. 11. A first one is the barrier 85 having barrierheights 75 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TT)) and 84 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TTB)) at entranceside and exit side, respectively, for the incoming LH 72 and HH 73. Thebarrier height 75 relates to the barrier height 84 through formula:ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TTB)=ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TT) −|V′ _(TD)|  —(7),where V′_(TD) is the potential across TD 63 during the erase disturb.Thus, by keeping a positive value for ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TTB), these twobarrier heights can maintain a trapezoidal shape barrier for the barrier85 in TD 63.

Similarly, a second barrier is the barrier 87 having barrier heights 86(ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TB)) and 88 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG)) at entrance side andexit side, respectively, facing the incoming LH 72 and HH 73. Thebarrier height 86 relates to the barrier height 88 through formula:ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG)=ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TB) −|V′ _(BD)|  —(8),where V′_(BD) is the potential across BD 64 during the erase disturb. Bykeeping a positive value for ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG), these two barrierheights can form a trapezoidal shape barrier for the barrier 87 in BD64. Thus, with the double trapezoidal barrier structure of barriers 85and 87, the energy band structure in FIG. 11 provides an effectivemechanism blocking incoming LH 72 and HH 73 and hence prevents erasedisturb.

Turning now to FIG. 18B, a similar analysis is now made based on theenergy band structure of the prior art. In FIG. 18B, the barrier height32 cannot block holes 30 as tunneling dielectric 28 is designed topermit holes 30 tunneling therethrough as gate 10 is positively biasrelative to gate 12. The disturb prevention of the prior art thus fullyrely on keeping the energy level of holes lower than the barrier height34 to ensure retention dielectric 26 be the barrier blocking theincoming holes from entering floating gate 14. However, there aresituations that these holes can enter into floating gate 14 throughtunneling into the valence band 26 b of retention dielectric 26 inFowler-Nordheim tunneling mechanism when dielectric 26 has an“triangle-shaped” energy band structure shown in FIG. 18B. In such anevent, a change on cell state can occur as enough holes areinadvertently introduced and accumulated on floating gate 14. Thisresult in an erase disturb to an unselected cell. Thus, the energy bandstructure and cell structure of prior art is more vulnerable to disturbproblem.

With the barrier height engineering concept, the energy band constructedin the present invention provides a more effective structure preventingthe erase disturb in the memory cell. Referring back to FIG. 11, thetrapezoidal barrier 87 formed by BD 64 provides a more effectivestructure to block the incoming LH 72 and HH 73. The barrier heights 86and 88 can be optimized by a proper selection on the dielectric constantand thickness for TD 63 and BD 64, as taught in the theory for energyband engineering, such that they can be electrically altered indifferent degree than the barrier heights 75 and 84 of TD 63. Ingeneral, it is desired to keep the two barrier heights, 86 and 88, ofthe trapezoidal barrier 87 high enough in unselected cells for disturbprevention, and to keep such two barriers low enough in selected cellsfor erase operation. For disturb prevention, the voltage between STG 60and SBG 66 is chosen such that the energy level of LH 72 and HH 73 islower than the barrier heights 86 and 88. It should be noted that thetrapezoidal barrier 87 in BD 64 can be preserved by keeping a positivevalue for the barrier height 88 (i.e. the one at the exit side). Thiscan be achieved by choosing a large value for a valence band offset(ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(TB)) between valence bands 64 b and 60 b through properselection on materials for TD 63 and BD 64 or by keeping erase disturbvoltage V_(ed) at a value lower than the summation of this valence bandoffset and the flat band voltage V_(fb). A better way to capture themethod provided here for disturb prevention is by referring to theformula for the barrier height 88 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG)), which isexpressed asΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG)=ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(TB)−(V _(ed) −V _(fb)).

As is clear mathematically in this formula, keeping V_(ed) lower thanthe summation of ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(TB) and V_(fb) can keep the barrierheight 88 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG)) having a positive height, thus canpreserve the trapezoidal barrier shape.

For the specific embodiment, voltage of STG 60 is chosen in the range ofabout +2.0 V to about +2.5 V relative to voltage of SBG 66 for erasedisturb prevention.

FIG. 19 illustrates the effect of the barrier height engineering ontunneling currents when STG 60 is positively biased relative to SBG 66.For comparison, FIG. 19 further shows various components on tunnelingcurrents for energy band structure in prior art when gate 10 ispositively biased relative to gate 12. The tunneling currents of priorart comprise the hole current in the modest bias range (0 to 3 V) andthe parasitic CE current in the higher bias range (3V and higher). Asdescribed hereinbefore (see FIG. 3A), the CE current is from theelectrons 37 of inversion layer formed in gate 12, which is formed of p+polysilicon. The CE current and its formation mechanism were overlookedin the prior art. This problem constitutes a major issue onfunctionality of memory cell in the prior art. In a clear contrast, thetotal tunneling current of the present invention is found comprising thehole current only. There is no parasitic current observed within theentire bias range. The parasitic CE issue is prevented in the energyband structure of the present invention because a portion of the appliedvoltage is now absorbed by BD 64. Furthermore, the hole current of thepresent invention show a much stronger voltage dependence than that inthe prior art. As illustrated, the hole current is found at similarlevel as that in prior art at the erase voltage of about 5V, and isfound negligible at a disturb prevention voltage of about 2 V. As isshown at an applied voltage of 2V, the hole current density of thepresent invention is about 10⁴ times lower than that of prior art. Inother words, with the barrier height engineering and the energy bandstructure provided in the present invention, a memory cell thusconstructed can have an erase disturb strength about 10⁴ times strongerthan that of memory cells constructed in prior art.

FIG. 20A shows the total capacitance seen by SBG 66 and its dependenceon the thickness of BD (T^(BD)), and is used to illustrate the advantageon suppressing parasitic capacitance provided in the present invention.The parasitic capacitance between gates 10 and 12 of prior art is shownto be about 1.2×10⁻⁶ Farad/cm², which corresponds to the thickness ofdielectric 28 around 3 nm required for tunneling injection in prior art.In the present invention, such capacitance can be significantly reducedto the range of about 9×10⁻⁷ Farad/cm² for structure with TD 63 of oxidehaving same thickness as dielectric 28 in the prior art cell and BD 64of nitride having a thickness of 2 nm. The capacitance can be furtherreduced to the range of about 7×10⁻⁷ and 5.8×10⁻⁷ Farad/cm² asthickening BD to 4 nm and 6 nm, respectively. It should be noted thatthickening BD does not have adverse impacts on disturb prevention forprogram and for erase. This can be better understood by referring to theexpressions for the barrier height 88 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG)) for eraseand for the barrier height 95 (ΔΦ_(VE) _(—) _(TBG)) for program. For thecase of erase, as is apparent in the expression for ΔΦ_(VH) _(—)_(TBG)(=ΔΦ_(VB) _(—) _(TB)−(V _(ed) −V _(fb))), the barrier height 88(ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG)) is independent of the thickness of BD 64, andhence thickening BD 64 will not change the barrier height 88. Asdescribed hereinbefore, keeping a positive barrier height 88 canpreserve the valence band barrier 87 of BD 64 in a trapezoidal shape,which is important for blocking tunneling charge carriers. The effecthere is advantageous as it permits the optimization on the barrierheight 88 for disturb prevention and the optimization on BD 64 thicknessfor parasitic capacitance suppression be made separately. Therefore,there is no compromise in the optimization process. In fact, thickeningBD 64 can permit the trapezoidal barrier be a more effective tunnelingbarrier to charge carriers on either side of the barrier due to athicker tunneling distance for these carriers. Furthermore, a thicker BD64 permits a larger voltage drop across BD 64, and hence a smallervoltage drop across TD 63. The effect of the thickness of BD 64 onbarrier heights and on voltage drop across the dielectrics isillustrated in FIG. 20B. The illustration is made for the specificembodiment, where nitride and oxide are employed as the material for BD64 and TD 63, respectively. As is apparent, the barrier height 88(ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TBG)) is found independent of BD thickness (T_(BD)), andis maintained at a value of about 0.8 eV when V_(ed) is set at 2V fordisturb prevention. As also shown in FIG. 20B, thickening BD 64 resultsin a higher barrier height 86 (ΔΦ_(VH) _(—) _(TB)). As can be seen inFIG. 11, a higher barrier height 86 is favorable for blocking LH 72 andHH 73 from forward tunneling, and hence is desirable for disturbprevention

Although the forgoing discussions in FIGS. 19 and 20 have focused on theerase disturb, it will be clear to those ordinary skills in the art thatsimilar considerations, their effects and advantages apply to theprogram disturb.

The Memory Cells of the Present Invention

The memory cells of the present invention can be programmed by employingthe piezo-ballistic-electron-injection mechanism and erased by employingthe piezo-ballistic-hole-injection mechanism described hereinbefore.

FIG. 21 shows a cross sectional view of a memory cell 200 in accordancewith one embodiment of the present invention. The cell 200 comprises asource 56, a drain 57 with a channel 58 therebetween, a body 59 in asubstrate 1 of a semiconductor having a first conductivity type (e.g.p-type), a strained tunneling gate (STG 60), an injection filter 62, astrained ballistic gate (SBG 66), a strain source of a strain material65, and a charge receiving or storage region (CSR 68). The source 56 anddrain 57 are formed in the substrate and are typically heavily doped byimpurity of a second conductivity type (e.g. n-type) having doping levelin the range of about 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³ to about 5×10²¹ atoms/cm³. TheCSR 68 is disposed over and insulated from the channel 58 by a channeldielectric 61. The SBG 66 is disposed over and insulated from the CSR 68and the source/drain 56/57 by a retention dielectric (RD 70) and by adiffusion dielectric 69, respectively. The SBG 66 can be a heavily dopedpolysilicon, polycrystalline Silicon-Germanium (“poly SiGe”), lowresistivity interconnect material such as metalized silicon(“silicide”), or a refractory metal. The STG 60 is disposed over andinsulated from the SBG 66 by the injection filter 62 comprising atunneling dielectric (TD 63) and a blocking dielectric (BD 64). The STG60 can be a heavily doped polysilicon, poly SiGe, low resistivityinterconnect material such as silicide, or a refractory metal, with athickness in the range of about 20 nm to 400 nm. The TD 63 is disposedin between the STG 60 and the BD 64. The material for TD 63 can beoxide, nitride, oxynitride, aluminum oxide, hafnium oxide, zirconiumoxide or an alloy of these materials, and has a thickness in the rangeof about 1.5 nm to about 4 nm. The material for BD 64 can have anarrower energy band gap than that of TD 63, and can be selected fromthe group of oxynitride, nitride, aluminum oxide, hafnium oxide,zirconium oxide and alloys of these materials. The thickness for BD 64can be in the range of about 1 nm to about 6 nm. The strain material 65can be the strain source providing mechanical stress to strain SBG 66disposed thereunder, and/or to strain STG 60 disposed laterally adjacentto and insulated therefrom by the injection filter 62. Though not shown,a portion of the strain material 65 can also be disposed over the STG 60to further provide strain to that region. The STG 60 overlaps with theSBG 66 at an overlapping region, where at least a portion of the CSR 68is disposed thereunder. In a preferred embodiment, the SBG 66 comprisestwo portions: A first portion 67 a having a thickness on the order ofabout 40 nm to about 400 nm is disposed generally over the source 56 anddrain 57, and a second portion 67 b having a thickness on the order ofabout 10 nm to about 200 nm is disposed generally over CSR 68. Thesurfaces of the first and the second portions 67 a and 67 b of SBG 66can generally be at same level.

The strain material 65 can be a dielectric providing different types ofstress (e.g. compressive stress or tensile stress) and is used forgenerating piezo-effect in STG 60 and SBG 66 for thepiezo-ballistic-charge-injection. The stress can be a uniaxial stresswith a stress axis generally parallel to the surface of the secondportion 67 b of SBG 66 and along a first direction shown in a dash arrow71. A preferred embodiment for the strain material 65 comprises nitride.The stress level and physical properties of the nitride can becontrolled by the thickness and process conditions in its formation. Forexample, by changing the pressure on chemical elements (e.g. silane)during its formation, magnitude on stress level in the range of about 50MPa to about 1 giga Pascal (“GPa”) can be achieved. The nitride can beformed to have either tensile stress or compressive stress by employingwell-known chemical-vapor-deposition (“CVD”) techniques such asthermal-CVD (for tensile stress nitride) or plasma-CVD (for compressivestress nitride). Further, the stress level of nitride can be tailored oreven be relaxed if necessary by using well-known technique, such as ionimplanting Ge into the nitride with implant dosage above a thresholdlevel (e.g. about 1×10¹⁴ atoms/cm²).

It should be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art having thebenefit of this disclosure that the strain source resulting inpiezo-effect on SBG and STG in the present invention need not beoriginated from the strain material 65 and need not be from its shownlocation, but rather can be from any other means and in any otherregions in the memory cell. Further, the stress need not be of theuniaxial type but rather can be other type (e.g. biaxial type). Forexample, the strain source can be from the SBG when a polysilicon isemployed as material for that region. This is because polysilicon canprovide tensile stress with stress level typically in the range of about200 MPa to about 500 MPa. Another material for the strain source istungsten-silicide, which is a widely used material in manufacturingsemiconductor IC. Tungsten-silicide provides stress level in the rangeof about 1.5 GPa to about 2 GPa, and can be employed alone as thematerial for SBG or can be formed atop of a polysilicon layer tocollectively form the SBG. Other materials such as amorphous silicon,poly SiGe, TaN, TiN etc. can also be considered as material forsupporting the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection. Moreover, meansintroducing strain need not be from employing strain materials, butrather can be through other approaches, such as ion implanting heavyatoms (e.g. Si, Ge, As etc.) into the regions of crystal to be strained.Implanting heavy atoms at dosage above a critical dosage can disturb theperiodicity of crystal lattice, and create dislocation loops and hencestress in that region. Further the stress in that region can providestrain to region adjacent to it. The stress in the implanted region canbe preserved by implanting atom such as nitrogen in that region toprevent stress from being relaxed in later processing steps during cellmanufacturing. The ion implantation approach has the advantage onprocess simplicity as it does not require depositing and etching strainmaterial. Further it can form stress in implanted regions and hence canlocalize the stress in regions where strain effect is most desired.Among all these approaches, they all provide desired piezo-effect forthe piezo-ballistic-charge-injection in accordance with the presentinvention. Additionally, although one strain source is illustrated inmemory cells in accordance with the present invention, it should beclear to those of ordinary skill in the art that two or more strainsources can coexist in the same cell to provide any variations on stress(tensile or compressive) to various regions of memory cell fallingwithin the scope of the appended claims.

FIG. 22 shows a cross sectional view of a memory cell 300 in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention. This embodiment of thepresent invention differs from cell 200 illustrated in FIG. 21 in thatthe strain material 65 is disposed over and isolated from the SBG 66 bythe injection filter 62. Further, the sidewalls of strain material 65are disposed laterally adjacent to but in contact with the sidewalls ofSTG 60. This can provide stronger strain to STG 60 and hence strongerpiezo-effect on charge carriers in that region. Though not shown, aportion of the strain material 65 can also be disposed over STG 60.

FIG. 23 shows a cross sectional view of a memory cell 400 in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention. The memory cell 400 isin all respects except one the same as cell 300 of FIG. 22. Thedifference is that the strain material 65 is in contact with both STG 60and SBG 66 regions. As shown, the strain material 65 is disposed overthe SBG 66 with its bottom in contact with a portion of the surface ofSBG 66. Similarly to cell 300 shown in FIG. 22, the sidewalls of strainmaterial 65 are disposed laterally adjacent to but in contact with thesidewalls of STG 60. With direct contact made between the strain source(i.e. the strain material 65) and the strained regions (i.e. STG orSBG), this architecture provides a more effective mean to strain theseregions and hence results in a stronger piezo-effect in these regionswhile employing the piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism for celloperations.

It is thus clear that the strain source can be arranged in differentways to strained regions (e.g. STG 60) in memory cell in accordance withthe present invention. The strength of the strain effect of a strainsource on strained regions is typically stronger in regions in directcontact with the strain source, and can be somewhat weaker and relaxedin regions not in direct contact therewith. In some cases, the straincan be even of a reverse type in strained regions not in direct contactwith the strain source. For example, the strain in these regions can beof compressive type of strain when a tensile type of strain source isdisposed adjacent thereto and insulated therefrom. These combinedeffects provide a scheme to separately optimize the strains in STG andin SBG for an optimum usage of the piezo-ballistic-charges-injectionmechanism.

FIG. 24 shows a cross sectional view of a memory cell 500 in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention. Memory cell 500comprises a source 56, a drain 57 with a channel 58 therebetween, a body59 in a well 3 of a first conductivity type (e.g. p-type), a strainedtunneling gate (STG 60), an injection filter 62, a strained ballisticgate (SBG 66), a strain source of material 65, and a charge storageregion (CSR 68). The source 56, drain 57 and well 3 are formed in asubstrate 1 of a semiconductor material, such as silicon. For apreferred embodiment, the substrate 1 comprises silicon of the firstconductivity type (i.e. p-type) having a lower doping level in the rangebetween about 1×10¹⁵ atoms/cm³ to about 5×10¹⁷ atoms/cm³. The well 3forms the memory well region, wherein individual memory cell resides,and is isolated from the substrate 1 by the source 56. The well 3 can beof the first conductivity type with a higher doping level than thesubstrate 1 and is in the range between about 5×10¹⁵ atoms/cm³ to about1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³. The thickness of the well 3 can be on the order ofabout 200 nm to about 4000 nm. The source 56 can be a region heavilydoped by impurity of a second conductivity type (e.g. n-type) with adoping level in the range of about 1×10¹⁸ atoms/cm³ to about 5×10²¹atoms/cm³ and a thickness in the range of about 200 nm to about 2000 nm.The drain 57 can be heavily-doped by impurity of a second conductivitytype at a doping level in the range of about 1×10¹⁹ atoms/cm³ to about5×10²¹ atoms/cm³. The drain 57 can have a thickness on the order ofabout 50 nm to about 250 nm and is defined in location adjacent to thesurface of the well 3. The memory 500 further comprises a trench holewith a trench sidewall 501 extends through the drain 57, the well 3, anda portion of the source 56 with a trench bottom 502 preferably residewithin the source 56. The drain 57 in together with the source 56defined therebetween the channel 58 formed along the trench sidewall501. A channel dielectric 61 is disposed adjacent to the trench sidewall501 and the trench bottom 502, and can be made from oxide, nitride,oxynitride or materials of high dielectric constant (such as aluminumoxide, hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide etc.). Typical thickness of thechannel dielectric 61 can be in the range of about 5 nm to about 50 nm.A diffusion dielectric 69 is disposed over the drain 57 and the well 3,and can have a thickness in the range of about 10 nm to about 500 nm.The CSR 68 is provided within the trench hole and is insulated from thedrain 57, well 3, and source 56 through the channel dielectric 61. TheCSR 68 can be with a width on the order of about 10 nm to about 500 nmand with a depth on the order of about 100 nm to about 4000 nm and isgenerally in a rectangular shape. Disposed over the CSR 68 is aretention dielectric (RD) 70 having a thickness on the order of 5 nm to40 nm. The material for RD 70 can be made from oxide, nitride,oxynitride, aluminum oxide, hafnium oxide, zirconium oxide or acombination of these materials, such as oxide/nitride/oxide compositefilm. Disposed over the RD 70 and the diffusion dielectric 69 is the SBG66 having material similar to that in cell 200. In a preferredembodiment, the SBG 66 comprises two portions: A first portion 67 ahaving a thickness on the order of about 40 nm to about 400 nm generallydisposed over the diffusion dielectric 69; a second portion 67 b havinga thickness in the range of about 10 nm to about 200 nm generallydisposed over the CSR 68. Other alternate configurations on the SBG 66will be described in a greater detail hereinafter. The STG 60 isdisposed over and insulated from the SBG 66 by the injection filter 62.The material for STG 60 can be similar to that in cell 200. Theinjection filter 62 comprises a tunneling dielectric (TD 63) and ablocking dielectric (BD 64) with TD 63 disposed in between the STG 60and the BD 64. The specification for TD 63 and BD 64 can be similar tothat described hereinbefore in cell 200. The strain material 65 is astrain source providing mechanical stress to strain SBG 66 disposedthereunder, and to strain STG 60 disposed laterally adjacent to andinsulated therefrom by the injection filter 62. Though not shown, aportion of the strain material 65 can also be disposed over the STG 60to further provide strain to that region. The STG 60 overlaps with theSBG 66 at an overlapping region, where at least a portion of the CSR 68is disposed thereunder.

FIG. 25 shows enlarged view illustrating partial cross sections of threealternative embodiments on SBG 66. In the embodiments shown in FIGS.25-A and 25-B, the object is to form the second portion 67 b of the SBG66 with a reduced thickness than the first portion 67 a to enhance thepiezo-ballistic-charges-injection efficiency during a program or eraseoperation of the cells in accordance with the present invention. In theembodiment shown in FIG. 25-A, the reduced thickness is achieved byproviding the second portion 67 b with a recessed surface 67 c inwardtoward the SBG 66, wherein the recessed surface 67 c is substantially aconcave contour. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 25-B, the reducedthickness on the second portion 67 b is achieved by providing therecessed surface 67 c of the second portion 67 b in line with the bottomsurface 504 a of a semi-recessed trench formed within the SBG 66,wherein the trench sidewall 504 b is substantially perpendicular to thesubstrate surface. The degree of thinning on the second portion 67 b canbe determined based on the type of materials used for the SBG 66 andbased on the desired optimum performance of the cell operation, and isin general range from about 10% to about 80% of the thickness of thefirst portion 67 a. Finally, there is shown an embodiment with a simplerconfiguration on SBG 66 in FIG. 25-C. The structure comprises SBG 66configured with the second portion 67 b being substantially identical,in thickness, to the first portion 67 a. The main advantage of thisembodiment is on a simpler process for forming the SBG 66 during cellmanufacturing.

FIG. 26 shows a cross sectional view of a memory cell 520 in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention. Memory cell 520comprises similar provisions as defined in the memory cell 500 of FIG.24 except with a major difference on the CSR 68. The memory cell 500defines CSR 68 substantially in a rectangular shape, whereas memory cell520 defines CSR 68 substantially in a “V” shape or a truncated “V”shape. The “V”-shape CSR 68 comprises two portions: An upper portion 503can be with a width on the order of about 100 nm to about 2000 nm; alower portion 504 can be with a width on the order of about 10 nm toabout 100 nm. The provision of a “V” shape CSR 68 results in a minimumcoupling capacitance between CSR 68 and source 56, and hence has theadvantage of enhancing capacitive coupling from SBG 66 to CSR 68.

FIG. 27 shows a cross sectional view of a memory cell 540 in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention. Memory cell 540comprises similar provisions as defined in the memory cells 500 and 520except with a major difference on the CSR 68. The memory cells 500 and520 define CSR 68 with the trench bottom 502 reside within the source56, whereas memory cell 540 define CSR 68 extending through the source56 with the trench bottom 502 reside within the substrate 1.

FIG. 28 shows a cross sectional view of a memory cell 560 in accordancewith another embodiment of the present invention. Memory cell 560comprises similar provisions as defined in the memory cell 500 in FIG.24 except with a difference on the CSR 68. The memory cell 500 defineCSR 68 substantially in a rectangular shape with the surface of CSR 68be substantially co-planar with a surface of substrate 1, whereas memorycell 560 define CSR 68 substantially in a “T” shape with a protrudingportion 503 of the upper portion of CSR 68 be disposed over andinsulated from a portion of the substrate surface. The protrudingportion results in the top surface of CSR 68 substantially higher thanthe substrate surface. The “T”-shape CSR 68 comprises generally twoportions: the protruding portion 503 can be with a width on the order ofabout 150 nm to about 2000 nm; the lower portion 504 adjacent to thetrench sidewall 501 and bottom 502 can be with a width on the order ofabout 50 nm to about 1500 nm. The provision of a “T”-shape CSR 68 hasthe advantage of a stronger capacitive coupling between the SBG 66 andthe CSR 68. Furthermore, the topography of the second portion 67 b ofSBG 66 can have a convex shaped structure over the protruding portion503 of CSR 68. A thinner thickness for the second portion 67 b of theSBG 66 can be naturally achieved in manufacturing process and thus canbe formed in a self-aligned manner to the CSR 68 thereunder. The thinnerthickness for the second portion 67 b has the advantage on celloperation using piezo-ballistic-carriers-injection mechanism.

The isolation scheme for all the memory cells disclosed so far areillustrated based on junction isolation scheme, where drain 57 of twoadjacent cells are isolated by the well 3. FIG. 29 shows an example onan alternative scheme for isolating cells in accordance with the presentinvention. Memory cell 500 of FIG. 24 is used as an example on cellstructure for this illustration. Additional elements on thisillustration are shown in cell 580 of FIG. 29. Referring to FIG. 29,there are shown two isolation regions 6 with an active region 5 disposedtherebetween. Field insulators 506 can be formed in the well 3 toprovide isolation function isolating adjacent cells from each other. Asshown, field insulators 506 can be disposed under the first portion 67 aof the SBG 66 with a depth deeper than the depth of drain 57 but notquite to an upper surface of the source 56. This type of field insulatorcan be formed by conventional techniques, such as LOCOS process orshallow-trench-isolation (“STI”), well-known in the art. In a preferredembodiment, the field insulator 506 of STI is employed as it can be moreprecisely formed at smaller design rules. The field insulator 506 issubstantially in a rectangular shape with a thickness on the order ofabout 200 nm and a width of about 100 nm, and can be typically made frominsulator such as oxide or other dielectrics well-known in the art. Theobject in this embodiment is to minimize capacitive coupling between SBG66 and well 3 on parasitic capacitive components contributed from thefirst portion 67 a of SBG 66. Minimizing the capacitive coupling of SBG66 has the advantage on reducing capacitance seen by that region in eachmemory cell and thereby can reduce the operation speed in celloperations (e.g. program, erase, and read) of memory cell. The scheme oncell isolation using region 506, whereby adjacent cells are divided fromeach other, and the effect of this scheme on minimizing capacitiveloading become more appreciable with cross sectional view on structureshown in FIG. 30, wherein there is shown three identical memory cells580 interconnected together. The active regions 5, wherein memory cellsreside, are interlaced with field insulator 506 in isolation regions 6to form a segment of memory array 600. It should be appreciated thatwhile only a small segment of array 600 is shown, the provisions hereillustrate any size of array. The SBG 66 regions of each cell areinterconnected to define a SBG line trace 508, which is typicallyextended across the entire array of memory cells. For example, with anarray having a plurality of interlaced columns of isolation and activeregions, with a plurality of memory cells in each active region, memorycell elements such as SBG 66 can be interconnected to continuouslyextend across an entire row or column of memory cells. As a result, thecapacitive loading effect appear at the SBG 66 is a multiplication ofthe total number of cells on a same SBG line to the capacitance of SBGof each individual cell. Therefore, a reduction of 50% on capacitance ofSBG in each individual cell can be directly translated to a reduction of50% on total capacitance of each SBG line, thereby a 50% improvement onspeed accessing a cell in a memory array providing other parameters andconditions in cell operation kept the same.

It should be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art that althoughthe cell structures from 500 to 580 in forgoing embodiments areillustrated with the strain material 65 in contact with SBG 66 directly,other alternative configurations on the SBG 66, such as examples shownin FIGS. 22 and 23, can be employed for these cell structures to benefitthe piezo-ballistic-charges-injection mechanism. Further, althoughmemory cell 500 is used as the example on illustrating the alternativescheme for isolating cells, it should be clear to those of ordinaryskill in the art that other cells in accordance with the presentinvention can be readily used for the same illustration shown in FIG.30.

In the prior art, material with a larger work function is one of themajor criteria on material selection for ballistic gate 12, whereballistic charges traverse. The present invention removes thisconstraint totally, and the material for the ballistic transport regionSBG 66 can be any kind of conductive materials. To emphasize thiseffect, the piezo-ballistic-charges-injection mechanism of the presentinvention is illustrated by choosing material of a smaller workfunction, namely, n+ polysilicon, for SBG 66. It should be apparent tothose of ordinary skill in the art that the material for SBG 66 of thepresent invention is not limited to n+ polysilicon, but can encompassany other type of conductive materials such as p+ polysilicon, amorphoussilicon, porous polysilicon, poly SiGe, Pt, Au, Tungsten (W), Mo, Ru,Ta, silicide (e.g. NiSi, CoSi), TaN, TiN etc.

It should be noted that in the injection filter the dielectric constantof BD 64 is illustrated to be greater than that of TD 63. It should beclear to those of ordinary skill in the art that the teaching of thisdisclosure can be applied to modify the injection filter to effectivelyblock the parasitic charge carriers (electrons or holes) from backwardinjection. For example, the BD 64 layer of the filter can be modified tomaterial having energy gap narrower and dielectric constant similar tothat of TD 63. Moreover, the layer of BD 64 need not be a material witha uniform chemical element but can be a material with graded compositionon its element. Further, the filter need not comprise two dielectrics(i.e. TD and BD) but can comprise any number of layers of dielectricssuch that the filter can effectively block and filter charges. Forexample, an additional layer of dielectric can be placed on the otherside of BD 64 to form the filter having BD 64 disposed in between TD 63and the additional layer. The additional layer can have materialproperty and thickness similar to that of TD described earlier. Inaddition, any appropriate dielectric, such as oxynitride (“SiON”),aluminum oxide (“Al₂O₃”), hafnium oxide (“HfO₂”), zirconium oxide(“ZrO₂”), tantalum pen-oxide (“Ta₂O₅”) etc. can be used in place ofoxide or nitride. Furthermore, any composition of those materials andthe alloys formed thereof, such as hafnium oxide-oxide alloy(“HfO₂—SiO₂”), hafnium-aluminum-oxide alloy (“HfAlO”),hafnium-oxynitride alloy (“HfSiON”) etc. can be used in place of oxideor nitride.

It is to be understood that the present invention is not limited to theillustrated herein and embodiments described above, but encompasses anyand all variations falling within the scope of the appended claims. Forexample, although the present invention is illustrated in nonvolatilememories of electrically erasable programmable read only memory(EEPROM), it should be apparent to those having ordinary skill in theart that it can be extended to any other type of nonvolatile memories(such as Electrical Programmable Memory or EPROM). Further, although thepresent invention is illustrated in a single cell, it should be apparentto those of ordinary skill in the art that a plurality of cells of thepresent invention can be arranged in a rectangular array of rows andcolumns in a NAND or a NOR array architecture well known in the art.

Additionally, the present invention is illustrated in non-volatilememory cell storing charges on CSR of a conductive or semiconductormaterial (i.e. the “floating-gates”) that is electrically insulated frombut capacitively coupled to surrounding electrodes. In such storagescheme, charges are evenly distributed through out the conductiveregion. However, it should be apparent to those of ordinary skill in theart that the present invention is not limited to the illustrated hereinand embodiments described above, but can encompass any other types ofschemes and media for storing charges. For example, the memory cells ofthe present invention can store charges in localized storage sites suchas nano-crystals or in traps of a dielectric layer. The advantage ofthese charge storing schemes is a negligible interference betweenadjacent cells when they are arranged in a memory array. Furthermore, inthe event there is a local breakdown in surrounding insulators of one ofthe storage sites, charges stored at other sites can still be retained.The dielectric having traps as the storage sites can be a nitride layerformed, for example, by using LPCVD(Low-Pressure-Chemical-Vapor-Deposition) technique well-known in theart. Other dielectrics such as HfO₂ and ZrO₂ having traps of a deepertrapping energy can also be considered as material for the trappingdielectric. The nano-crystals as the storage sites can be siliconnano-crystals each in an oval shape having a diameter in the range ofabout 2 nm to about 7 nm, and can be formed by using well-known CVDtechnique. The nano-crystals are not limited to the siliconnano-crystals but can be nano-crystals of any other type of materials(e.g. Ge, SiGe alloy, HfO₂ etc.) that can effectively store charges.

Furthermore, the strain material of the present invention need not bedisposed on both sides of STG, need not be disposed over SBG, need notbe rectangular in their cross-sections, need not be in direct contactwith STG, need not be in direct contact with SBG, but rather can bedisposed over STG, can be disposed under SBG, can be in any positionadjacent to STG and SBG, can be any size and shape in theircross-sections, can be in indirect contact with STG, and can be inindirect contact with SBG that effectively provide strain to STG and toSBG in each memory cell. Additionally, the strain material of thepresent invention need not be nitride, need not be a dielectric, neednot be providing tensile stress, need not be providing compressivestress, but rather can be any other types of material and can provideany type of stress (e.g. shear stress) that effectively providepiezo-effect for piezo-ballistic-charges injection.

Moreover, the charge storage region of the present invention need not bein rectangular shape in their top view, need not be in rectangular intheir cross-sections, but rather can be any size and shape in their topview and in their cross-sections that effectively store charges andeffectively connects the drain 57 and source 56 regions in each memorycell. Additionally, the top surface portion of the charge storage regionneed not be co-planar with the substrate surface, but rather can be atany level under or above the substrate surface that permit the chargestorage region to effectively store charges, effectivelycapacitive-coupled with SBG 66 and the body 59, and effectively connectsthe drain 57 and source 56 regions in each memory cell. Similarly, thebottom surface portion of the charge storage region need not be parallelto the substrate surface, need not be flat, but rather can be with othershape that permit charge storage region to effectively store charges,effectively capacitive-coupled with SBG 66 and the body 59, andeffectively connects the drain 57 and source 56 regions in each memorycell. Likewise, the top and the bottom surface portion of TD 63 and BD64 need not be parallel to the substrate surface, need not be flat, neednot be co-planar with the substrate surface, but rather can be at anylevel under or above the substrate surface, in any angle with thesubstrate surface, and with other shape that can effectively permitpiezo-effect charge carriers tunneling in the forward direction andblocked in the backward direction. Additionally, the surface of thechannel region need not be co-planar with the substrate surface, butrather can be at any level under or above the substrate surface or inany angle with the substrate surface that effectively connects the drain57 and source 56 regions in each memory cell. Moreover, source 56 anddrain 57 regions, and/or source and drain lines, can be swapped.Further, those of skill in the art will recognize the source resultingin strain need not be termed “strain source” but can be in any otherterms (e.g. “stressor”, “stress source” etc.) that can providemechanical stress to generate piezo-effect on charge injection andtransports.

It should be clear to those of ordinary skill in the art that theteachings of this disclosure can be applied to modify the architectureof the strain source and the charge injection filter through which theeffects resulting in the advantages of the present invention can beachieved.

Self-Limiting Ballistic Charge Injection on Memory Cell Operation

The self-limiting mechanism and its usage on cell design and celloperation will now be provided using a simple capacitance model. The CSR68 is approximately at a potential given by the following equation:V _(CSR)=(Q _(CSR) +ΣC _(i) V _(i))/C _(total)—(9)withΣC _(i) V _(i) =C _(CSR-S) *V _(S) +C _(CSR-D) *V _(D) +C _(CSR-SBG) *V_(SBG) +C _(CSR-B) *V _(B)andC _(total) ═C _(CSR-S) +C _(CSR-D) +C _(CSR-SBG)+C_(CSR-B),where

Q_(CSR) is the total injected charges (electrons or holes) accumulatedon the CSR 68;

C_(CSR-S) is the capacitance between CSR 68 and source 56;

C_(CSR-D) is the capacitance between CSR 68 and drain 57;

C_(CSR-SBG) is the capacitance between CSR 68 and SBG 66;

C_(CSR-B) is the capacitance between CSR 68 and body 59; and

V_(S), V_(D), V_(SBG), and V_(B) are voltages placed at source, drain,SBG, and body, respectively. In the situation where a cell is free ofany charge in its initial state, the CSR potential V_(CSR) _(—) _(i) atthe initial state can be approximated byV _(CSR) _(—) _(i) =ΣC _(i) V _(i) /C _(total)  —(10)

Program Operation

Self-limiting injection mechanism is illustrated for program operationwhen a first type of charges (e.g. electrons) is selected as theballistic carriers. Referring to FIG. 31A, there is shown a partialportion of the conduction energy band diagram presented in FIG. 15 for aCSR potential at its initial state. The conduction band diagram is shownfor regions from SBG 66 to CSR 68. The electrons 89 are showntransporting at a kinetic energy 102 that is sufficient to surmount theconduction band barrier height 76 of RD 70. In the illustration providedhere, the kinetic energy 102 is shown higher than the barrier height 76at the interface between SBG 66 and RD 70 by an amount 102 a. Theelectrons 89 then enter the conduction band 70 a of RD 70, making theirway through and eventually collected by CSR 68. Through the injectionprocess, negative charges (electrons) will gradually build up on CSR 68,and subsequently modify CSR potential and hence electric field in RD 70.As injection continues, this effect can change the direction of electricfield in RD 70 from one assisting the electron charge transport (diagramshown in FIG. 31A) to the other opposing electron charge transport(diagram shown in FIG. 31B).

Referring to FIG. 31B, there is shown an energy band diagram similar tothat in FIG. 31A with a major difference on the CSR potential. Here theCSR potential has been modified from its initial state after negativecharges (electrons 89 a) accumulated thereon. As the event on chargeinjection continue, the incoming electrons 89 transporting with sameenergy 102 are now shown be repelled back toward the SBG 66 to becomecarriers 89 b, and can be conducted away therein as thermal carriers. Itis further shown that these electrons 89 are only able to enter theconduction band 70 a of a portion of RD 70 but unable to surmount theconduction band barrier height 76 a in RD 70. There is shown further yeta portion of electron carriers 89 can tunnel through a distance 76 bthrough quantum mechanical tunneling to reach CSR 68 and become electroncarriers 89 c. However, the tunneling probability for carriers 89 c isgenerally very low (e.g. about a millionth), and is expected to decreaserapidly (to be explained hereinafter). With these effects, theaccumulated electron charges on CSR induce a mechanism to limit theincoming electron carriers from continuously reaching CSR 68. Theillustration shown in FIG. 31B provides the basis for the self-limitingmechanism disclosed in this invention. The voltage dependence of flowrate for the electron carriers 89 can be stronger than that seen inFowler-Nordheim tunneling. There are several reasons for this. First, RD70 is provided with a thickness on the order of about 6 nm or thicker,and thus is considered as a Fowler-Nordheim tunneling dielectric.Therefore, without considering other effects, the voltage dependence offlow rate for electron carriers 89 is similar to that in Fowler-Nordheimtunneling characteristics, where a strong current dependence on voltageis seen (particularly at lower voltage range, e.g. a typical value isabout 1 order of magnitude of current change for about every 100 mVvoltage change). Secondly, as charges constantly built up on CSR 68 byinjected electrons, the energy barrier in RD 70 is increased accordinglyto develop an opposing field E, and the field becomes more effective onopposing the incoming electrons 89. The opposing field E can beapproximated byE=(Q _(CSR) −Q _(CSR) _(—) _(fb))/(T _(insulator)C_(total))where

Q_(CSR) _(—) _(fb) is the charges on the CSR as RD under flat bandcondition;

T_(insulator) is the thickness of RD 70.

The barrier height 76 a (Φ_(e)) resulted in the opposing field seen byelectron carriers in RD 70 can be approximated byΦ_(e) =q(Q _(CSR) −Q _(CSR) _(—) _(fb))/C _(total) −ΔK _(e)where

ΔK_(e) is the energy difference 102 a between the electron-carrierkinetic energy 102 and barrier height 76 at the interface between SBG 66and RD 70; and

q is the electron unit charge.

Therefore, in the situation where Φ_(e) is less than zero (i.e. ΔK_(e)being greater than q(Q_(CSR)−Q_(CSR) _(—) _(fb))/C_(total)), theballistic charges are permitted to transport through RD 70, and theeffect of opposing field on blocking the incoming electron charges isnegligible. As injection continue till a situation where Φ_(e) equals tozero (i.e. ΔK_(e) being equal to q(Q_(CSR)−Q_(CSR) _(—)_(fb))/C_(total)), the effect of opposing field takes place to blockincoming electron charges. With injection continued further, the barrierheight 76 a seen by electron carriers 89 in RD 70 start to form and cancontinue to increase as more electron charges build up on CSR 68. Alongwith the effect, the number of repelled carriers 89 b increases rapidlyto become equal to the incoming carriers 89. As a result, the effectreduces the amount of carriers available to participate theFowler-Nordheim tunneling and hence effectively reduces the tunnelingcarriers 89 c that can reach the CSR 68. This mechanism furtherincreases the effect on blocking incoming electrons from entering CSR68.

Both the effects described above forms the self-limiting injectionmechanism for cell programmed by using piezo-ballistic charge injection.In the initial program stage, so long as the electron carriers 89 cansurmount the barrier height 76, carriers are allowed to transportthrough RD 70 to reach CSR 68. As program event continues, electroncharges will continue build up on CSR 68, the potential of CSR 68 willdecrease to reach a lower value V_(CSR) _(—) _(P) such that a newbarrier 76 a is now formed to block all incoming electron carriers fromfurther reaching the CSR 68. This then complete a programming cycle, inwhich the programming event ends as the self-limiting mechanism takeplace.

At the completion of a programming event, the total amount of charges onthe CSR 68 can be approximated by a simple equation shown as below:Q _(CSR) =C _(total)(V _(CSR) _(—) _(P) −V _(CSR) _(—) _(i)).  —(11)In a different form, the total charges can be expressed approximatelyas:Q _(CSR) =Q _(CSR) _(—) _(fb)+(C _(total) /q)*ΔK _(e)  —(12)

Therefore, at the end of a programming cycle, the total chargesaccumulated on the CSR 68 are determined by two major parameters. First,it's determined by the extra energy 102 a (ΔK_(e)) that is over thebarrier height 76 for the electron carriers 89. Since the extra energy102 a is set by the voltage difference between STG 60 and SBG 66, aselection on the bias between gates 60 and 66 hence determines theamount of charges stored on CSR 68. The total cell capacitance C_(total)has a scaling effect and can be optimized through cell design to assistthe effect herein. For example, a larger value for the total cellcapacitance will result in the need on a smaller bias between gates 60and 66 for storing a same amount of charges on CSR 68. The secondparameter determining the total CSR charges is to do with the CSRcharges yielding the flat band condition in RD 70, which in turn can bedetermined by the voltages applied to each electrodes (e.g. drain 57) ofthe memory cell as well as the capacitor components of correspondingelectrodes. Thus with a choice on a set of these parameters, the presentinvention allows memory cells be programmed to a state a priori.

Both formulas (11) and (12) suggest effects that can be applied to storemulti-level logic states in a memory cell. For example, as suggested informula (11), to store four levels of logic states (namely, 00, 01, 10,and 11 states) in cell 200 of the present invention, four discreteamounts of charges for Q_(CSR) can be stored on CSR by setting V_(CSR)_(—) _(i) at four levels of voltages during electrons injection.Settings for V_(CSR) _(—) _(i) can be done, for example, by applyingfour different levels of voltages (e.g. 0V, 1V, 2V, and 3V) to source 56or drain 57 or to both of these regions while voltages for gates 60 and66 held at a fixed setting (e.g. −2V and 2V at gates 60 and 66,respectively). It is obvious the four levels of states can be handled inmany different ways. For example, a simpler way on setting the fourlevels of states can be done by setting the initial state (i.e. state oferased cell) as the 00 state. This scheme leaves the remaining threestates (01, 10, and 11) be established by setting V_(CSR) _(—) _(i) atthree levels of voltages in similar way as described above. The fourdiscrete amounts of charges for Q_(CSR) can be arranged such that theamount of charges for one state (e.g. the 11 state) is greater than thatfor its preceding state (e.g. 10). The formula (12) suggests anotherscheme for storing multi-level states. The scheme is done by utilizingthe linear dependence of Q_(CSR) on ΔK_(e) (i.e. the extra energy 102 ain FIG. 31A) to establish multi-level states through storing discreteamount charges for Q_(CSR) by setting ΔK_(e) at different levels. Usingthe above example on four level states with the initial state being the00 state as an illustration, the multi-level storage scheme here can bedone by setting three different voltages between STG 60 and SBG 66 whilefixing voltages at source, drain and body. For example, the threevoltages for STG 60 can be −2V, −2.5V, and −3V with SBG 66 held at +2V.For a cell having a total capacitance of about 2.25×10⁻¹⁶ Farad, thebias scheme can add an incremental amount of charges of about 700electrons to CSR for each increment on STG voltage.

It is now clear that the injection of electrons onto CSR will continueuntil the blocking effect on the ballistic electrons taking place. Theblocking effect is due to the rising of the energy bands in the CSR 68,which is equivalent to the lowering of the CSR potential as electroncharges accumulated thereon. As a result, an injection barrier and itsopposing field is formed in RD 70 and the barrier continue to rise asmore ballistic electrons injected into and accumulated on the CSR 68.This effect decreases the electron flow from STG 60 onto the CSR 68until to a point the barrier is high enough to completely block incomingballistic electrons. The charge blocking mechanism is highlyvoltage-sensitive. In other words, its current dependence on voltage ismore sensitive than that usually observed in the Fowler-Nordheimtunneling. Further, RD 70 is typically with thickness of about 6 nm orthicker, where the voltage-less-sensitive charge tunneling, namely thedirect-tunneling phenomenon, is not permitted. These effects provide aneffective self-limiting mechanism for ballistic charge injection. Theself-limiting mechanism provides a method permitting charges be storedon CSR at multi-level states. This can be done by for example, injectingincremental levels of charges on CSR through incrementally adjusting thebias at regions (such as the drain 57) adjacent to the CSR 68 or throughincrementally adjusting the bias between STG 60 and SBG 66. Themechanism thus permits storing multi-level logic states in memory cellsof the present invention.

Erase Operation

Self-limiting injection mechanism is further provided for eraseoperation when a second type of charges (e.g. holes) is selected as theinjected carriers. Referring to FIG. 32A, there is shown a partialportion of the valence energy band diagram presented in FIG. 10 for CSR68 at initial state of erase where a first type of charges (e.g.electrons 89 a) reside thereon. The injected holes 72 are showntransporting across SBG 66 at a kinetic energy 104 sufficient tosurmount the valence band barrier height 77 of RD 70. The kinetic energy104 is shown higher than the barrier height 77 by an amount 104 a. Theholes 72 can then enter the valence band 70 b of RD 70, making their waythrough and eventually collected by the CSR 68. These holes cangradually build up positive charges on the CSR 68, and subsequentlymodify the CSR potential and hence the electric field in RD 70. As suchinjection process continues, this effect can change the direction of theelectric field from one assisting the charge transport (e.g. FIG. 32A)to the other opposing the charge transport (e.g. FIG. 32B).

Referring to FIG. 32B, there is shown an energy band diagram similar tothat in FIG. 32A with a major difference on the CSR potential. Here theCSR potential has been modified from its initial state where initialelectrons 89 a have been neutralized and positive charges (holes 72 c)have built up. As the event on charge injection continues, the holes 72transporting with same energy 104 is now shown repelled back towards theSBG 66 to become carriers 72 b, and can be conducted away therein asthermal carriers. It is further shown these carriers are only able toenter the valence band 70 b of a portion of RD 70 but unable to surmountthe valence band barrier height 77 a in RD 70. Among these holes 72, itis shown further yet a small portion of them can reach the CSR 68through quantum mechanical tunneling to tunnel through a distance 77 b.They finally become the hole-carriers 72 d in CSR 68 and reside thereon.However, the tunneling probability for carriers 72 d is generally verylow, and decrease rapidly as more holes 72 c built up on CSR 68. Withthese effects, the accumulated charges on CSR 68 induce a mechanism tolimit the incoming holes 72 from reaching CSR 68. The illustration shownin FIG. 32B provides the basis for the self-limiting mechanism for eraseoperation disclosed in this invention. It is notable that FIG. 32B issimilar to FIG. 31B except with differences on carriers type and onenergy band where carriers transport. It is therefore obvious to thosehaving ordinary skill in the art that the characteristics of theself-limiting erase mechanism using holes are similar to that of theself-limiting program mechanism using electron injection describedearlier. For erase operation using holes, in the initial erase stage, solong as the energy of holes 72 can surmount the barrier height 77, thecharges are allowed to transport through RD 70 and reach CSR 68. Astotal electrons on CSR are fully neutralized by injected holes, positivecharges (holes 72 c) start building up on CSR 68 to increase thepotential of CSR to a higher value V_(CSR) _(—) _(E) such that a newbarrier 77 a and an opposing field are formed to effectively block allincoming holes from further reaching CSR 68. This then complete an erasecycle, in which the event ends as the self-limiting erase mechanism takeplace.

At the completion of an erase cycle, the total charges on the CSR 68 canbe approximated by a simple equation shown as below:Q _(CSR) =C _(total)(V _(CSR) _(—) _(E) −V _(CSR) _(—) _(i)).  —(13)In a different form, the total charges can be expressed approximatelyas:Q _(CSR) =Q _(CSR) _(—) _(fb)+(C _(total) /q)*ΔK _(h)  —(14),where ΔK_(h) is the energy difference 104 a between the hole-carrierkinetic energy 104 and barrier height 77 at the interface between SBG 66and RD 70, and is set by bias between gates 60 and 66.

Therefore, at the end of an erase cycle, the total charges accumulatedon CSR 68 are determined by two major parameters in formula (14). First,it can be determined by the extra energy 104 a (ΔK_(h)) that is over thebarrier height 77 for the holes 72. A selection on the bias betweengates 60 and 66 hence determines the amount of charges stored on CSR 68.The second parameter determining the total CSR charges is Q_(CSR) _(—)_(fb), which is to do with the CSR charges yielding the flat bandcondition in RD 70, and can be determined by the voltages appeared atelectrodes (e.g. drain) of the memory cell as well as the capacitorcomponents of corresponding electrodes. Thus with a choice on a set ofthese parameters, the present invention allows the memory cells beerased to a state a priori. Furthermore, the linear dependence ofQ_(CSR) on ΔK_(h) (i.e. the extra energy 104 a) also provides anadvantage to the present invention to allow memory cells be erased to astate a priori. Both of these effects can be used to prevent over-eraseissue in non-volatile memory cells in conventional technologiesemploying Fowler-Nordheim tunneling mechanism for erase. Moreover, theseeffects can be used to allowed memory cell be erased to multi-levelstates. For example, using four levels logic states (namely, 00, 01, 10,and 11 states) and effect suggested in formula (13) as an illustration,four levels states can be set by storing four discrete amounts of holecharges for Q_(CSR) by setting V_(CSR) _(—) _(i) at four levels ofvoltages during holes injection. Setting V_(CSR) _(—) _(i) can be done,for example, by applying four different voltages (e.g. 0V, −1V, −2V, and−3V) to bias source 56 or drain 57 or both of these regions. Inconsideration of biasing scheme in this example, a proper bias (e.g.−3V) can be applied to the body 59 to avoid forward-biasing thesource/drain regions.

It should be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that theprovision disclosed herein on the self-limiting mechanism is generallytrue for operating cells using either type of charges. For example,holes can be selected for program operation and electrons can beselected for erase operation. Further, the multi-level logic states canbe stored in memory cells by using either type of injection mechanisms.

For memory cells in accordance with the present inventions, it should benoted that both program and erase operations can be done with absolutebias at a level less than or equal to 3.3V. Furthermore, the erasemechanism and cell architecture enable the individually erasable cellsfeature, which is ideal for storing data such as constants that requiredperiodically changed. The same feature is further extendable to smallgroup of such cells which are erased simultaneously (e.g. cells storinga digital word, which contains 8 cells). Additionally, the same featureis also further extendable to such cells which are erasablesimultaneously in large group (e.g. cells storing code for softwareprogram, which can contain 2048 cells configured in page, or contain aplurality of pages in block in array architecture).

Finally, the read operation of the cells in accordance with the presentinvention is described herein for completeness on cell operations. Theread operation can best be described when cells are arranged in arectangular array of rows and columns, wherein a plurality of cells areconstructed in NOR or NAND architecture well-known in the art. The readoperation can be illustrated in cells having source 56 and drain 57 ofn-type conductivity, and body 59 of p-type conductivity. To read aselected memory cell in an array, a ground potential is applied to thesource of the cell. A read voltage of approximately +1 volt is appliedto the drain and approximately 2.5 volts (depending upon the powersupply voltage of the device) is applied to SBG 66 of the selected cell.Other regions (i.e. STG 60 and body 59) are at ground potential. If CSR68 of the selected cell is positively charged (i.e. CSR is discharged ofelectrons), then the channel 58 is turned on. Thus, an electricalcurrent will flow from source 56 to drain 57 of the selected cell. Thiswould be the “1” state.

On the other hand, if CSR 68 is negatively charged, the channel 58 iseither weakly turned on or is entirely shut off. Even when SBG and drainare raised to the read potential, little or no current will flow throughchannel 58. In this case, either the current is very small compared tothat of the “1” state or there is no current at all. In this manner, theselected memory cell is sensed to be programmed at the “0” state. Groundpotential is applied to source 56, drain 57, and SBG 66 for cells innon-selected columns and rows so only the selected memory cell is read.For both selected and non-selected memory cells, ground potential isapplied to the body region 59. It should be appreciated by those havingordinary skill in the art that although the read scheme here isillustrated on cell having two logic states (i.e. “0” and “1”), itshould be obvious that the scheme can be applied to cell havingmulti-level of states (e.g. 00, 01, 10, and 11).

The memory cell can be formed in an array with peripheral circuitryincluding conventional row address decoding circuitry, column addressdecoding circuitry, sense amplifier circuitry, output buffer circuitryand input buffer circuitry, which are well known in the art.

It is to be understood that the present invention on charge injectionmechanism is not limited to the memory cells illustrated herein andembodiments described above but can be extended to any other type ofsemiconductor devices. For example, the mechanisms in FIGS. 10 and 15 ofthe present invention can be applied to transistors or amplifiers. Thiscan be done by properly assigning STG, SBG and CSR regions to emitter,base, and collector regions, respectively, of a transistor. FIG. 33illustrates an example on a transistor 700 thus configured. Thetransistor 700 comprises an emitter 60, a base 66, an injection filter62 in between the emitter 60 and the base 66, and a collector 68 in asubstrate 1 of a semiconductor (e.g. silicon) or insulator (e.g. SiO₂).The filter 62 can comprise a TD 63 and a BD 64. The transistor 700further comprises a strain source of strain material 65 providingmechanical stress to strain the base 66 disposed thereunder, and/or tostrain the emitter 60 disposed laterally adjacent to. The materialproperties, formation methods, specifications and other information onthese regions can be referred to their counter-parts having samereference indicator described earlier in the memory cells. For example,the emitter, base, and collector are conductive materials (e.g. silicon,polysilicon, SiGe, TiN, TaN, Au, Mo, Pt, NiSi, CoSi etc.). Thetransistor can be operated by employing thepiezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism to transport charge carriers(either electrons or light-holes) from the emitter 60 to the collector68. Using electron as an illustration, the transfer ratio of thetransistor can be optimized to a range of about 0.95 or higher throughapplying mechanical stress to the base along material orientationfavorable to electrons traversing the base. The mechanical stress canrepopulate the electrons to conduction band valley having a lightereffective mass, and hence can further be utilized to reduce the basesheet resistance. Further, the filter structure in accordance with thepresent invention can suppress the parasitic capacitance between emitterand base to the range of about 6×10⁻⁷ Farad/cm², and solves thecapacitance problem which was one time considered as a major problem inthe amplifier in the noted article by Mead. In fact, this capacitance issignificantly lower than the emitter-base capacitance (1.76×10⁻⁶Farad/cm²) reported in a state-of-the-art bipolar transistor (see Bocket al, “3.3 ps SiGe Bipolar Technology”, IEDM Technical Digest, pp.255-258, 2004.). Either one or all of these effects can suppress the RCdelay associated thereto. Therefore, the shortest transistor speed fortransistor in accordance with the present invention can be limited bythe transit time through the structure, and can be less than 0.5pico-second, permitting tera-Hertz device operation.

The unique portion of present invention lies in the effects provided bythe piezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism and by thebarrier-height-engineering. These effects result in unique components inthe cell and transistor structures, namely, the strain source for thepiezo-ballistic-charge-injection mechanism and the injection filter forthe barrier-height-engineering. Although both the components areillustrated simultaneously in the structures, it should be clear tothose of ordinary skill in the art that the two components need notcoexist in the same cell or transistor, but can exist in any variationsfalling within the scope of the appended claims. For example, the memorycells of the present invention can comprise the strain source withoutthe injection filter.

1. A method of operating a semiconductor device having a strainedtunneling gate, strained ballistic gate disposed adjacent to andinsulated from the strained tunneling gate, a storage region disposedadjacent to and insulated from the strained ballistic gate, and a strainsource providing a mechanical stress to the strained tunneling gate andthe strained ballistic gate to provide a piezo-effect, the methodcomprising the steps of: applying a first voltage to the strainedtunneling gate; applying a second voltage to the strained ballisticgate; and applying a third voltage to the storage region to injectcharge carriers from the strained tunneling gate through the strainedballistic gate into the storage region.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the charge carriers are electrons.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the charge carriers are light-holes.
 4. A method of operating anonvolatile memory cell having a plurality of states, the memory cellcomprising a strained tunneling gate, a strained ballistic gate disposedadjacent to and insulated from the strained tunneling gate, a storageregion disposed adjacent to and insulated from the strained ballisticgate, a strain source providing a mechanical stress to the strainedtunneling gate and the strained ballistic gate to provide apiezo-effect, and spaced-apart source and drain regions of a firstconductivity type in a body of a semiconductor of a second conductivitytype, the method comprising the steps of: applying a first voltage tothe strained tunneling gate; applying a second voltage to the strainedballistic gate; applying a body voltage to the body; applying a sourcevoltage to the source region; and applying a drain voltage to the drainregion to establish one of the plurality of states of the memory cell byinjecting charge carriers from the strained tunneling gate through thestrained ballistic gate into the storage region.
 5. The method of claim4, wherein the memory cell stores one of the plurality of states bystoring a discrete amount of charges on the storage region.
 6. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the body voltage, the source voltage, and thedrain voltage are set at a first voltage setting to establish the memorycell in a first state of the plurality of states, and the method furthercomprises: applying a second voltage setting to the body voltage, thesource voltage, and the drain voltage to establish the memory cell in asecond state of the plurality of states; applying a third voltagesetting to the body voltage, the source voltage, and the drain voltageto establish the memory cell in a third state of the plurality ofstates; and applying a fourth voltage setting to the body voltage, thesource voltage, and the drain voltage to establish the memory cell in afourth state of the plurality of states.
 7. The method of claim 6,wherein an amount of charges on the storage region in the first state isless than an amount of charges on the storage region in the secondstate, an amount of charges on the storage region in the second state isless than an amount of charges on the storage region in the third state,and an amount of charges on the storage region in the third state isless than an amount of charges on the storage region in the fourthstate.
 8. The method of claim 4, wherein the first voltage and thesecond voltage are set at a first voltage setting to establish thememory cell in a first state of the plurality of states, and the methodfurther comprises: applying a second voltage setting to the firstvoltage and the second voltage to establish the memory cell in a secondstate of the plurality of states; applying a third voltage setting tothe first voltage and the second voltage to establish the memory cell inthird state of the plurality of states; and applying a fourth voltagesetting to the first voltage and the second voltage to establish thememory cell in a fourth state of the plurality of states.
 9. The methodof claim 8, wherein an amount of charges on the storage region in thefirst state is less than an amount of charges on the storage region inthe second state, an amount of charges on the storage region in thesecond state is less than an amount of charges on the storage region inthe third state, and an amount of charges on the storage region in thethird state is less than an amount of charges on the storage region inthe fourth state.
 10. The method of claim
 4. wherein the storage regioncomprises material selected from the group consisting of conductivematerial, nano-particles, and dielectrics.
 11. The method of claim 4.wherein the charge carriers are electrons.
 12. The method of claim 4.wherein the charge carriers are light- holes.
 13. The method of claim 4,wherein the memory cell further comprises an injection filter permittingcharge carriers of one polarity type transporting from the strainedtunneling gate through the strained ballistic gate to the storage regionand substantially blocking charge carriers of an opposite polarity typetransporting from the strained ballistic gate to the strained tunnelinggate.
 14. The method of claim 13 wherein the injection filter has abarrier between the strained tunneling gate and the strained ballisticgate that has an entrance barrier height at an entrance and an exitbarrier height at an exit for charge carriers traveling in a directionfrom the entrance to the exit, and wherein said first voltage and saidsecond voltage are applied to cause the entrance barrier height and theexit barrier height to be associated with at least one energy level thatis greater than a carrier energy level for the charge carriers and theexit barrier height to be less than or equal to the entrance barrierheight such that the barrier is trapezoidal-shaped.
 15. The method ofclaim 14, wherein the memory cell further comprising a strain sourceproviding a mechanical stress to at least one of the strained tunnelinggate and the strained ballistic gate.
 16. The method of claim 13 whereinthe injection filter includes a blocking dielectric that has a bandoffset with respect to the strained tunneling gate.
 17. The method ofclaim 16, wherein the charge carriers are electrons and the band offsetis a conduction band offset, and wherein a magnitude of a voltagedifference between the first and the second voltages is smaller than asum of the conduction band offset and an energy band gap of the strainedballistic gate minus a flat-band voltage of the injection filter. 18.The method of claim 17, wherein the magnitude of the voltage differenceis in a range of about 1 V to about 2 V.
 19. The method of claim 16,wherein the charge carriers are holes and the band offset is a valenceband offset, and wherein a voltage difference between the first and thesecond voltages is smaller than a sum of the valence band offset and aflat-band voltage of the injection filter.
 20. The method of claim 19,wherein the voltage difference is in a range of about 2 V to about 2.5V.